Marked Petals
by DarkLunar1312
Summary: Soulmate. The word Lance fell in love with ever since he was young. Everyone has one, and you can almost always read their first words when you're ten. Most soulmates are equal to or less than ten years, and he was excited that his soulmate is around his age. He wondered what they would be like before he got his words. Years later, Lance realized that his soulmate is a dick.
1. Prologue

When Lance was ten, he was so happy to receive his words. The words always appear on the forearm of the dominant hand, colors that either matches their soulmate's personality, or simply their favorite color.

He dreamt of who his soulmate could be. A boy or a girl or one of those genders that is under 'other' that he sees on personality quizzes. If his soulmate would be platonic or romantic; he wouldn't mind either of them. Every soulmate makes you want to be the best, but Lance was already the best there is. He wanted to make the best of himself when he meets his soulmate in the future—even if he plays pranks on his younger sister, or gt into trouble with the neighborhood boys—so they can be happy together.

He was so excited every year that he grew older, and he remembers the excitement as the hour of his birth came up. He was eating cake when he saw a red line light up on his arm, letters were changing rapidly, but he could see that the letters were always slanted to the left. It took a while for the words to be legible, he remembered that his mama said it was a minute until he's officially ten. Her voice was clear over the cacophony of everyone else, all of his relatives were all there, and his best friends Hunk, and Cicero were there too.

 _"Who are you, and what's your problem with my hair?"_

From what ten year old Lance could gather, his soulmate does not have the current hairstyle when he meets them. That was alright, his younger self concluded, he could help them out with an up-to-date fashion. His soulmate was one of the reasons why he took care to be presentable with the latest fads.

The red could mean that his soulmate is passionate, angry, or it could be romantic. Personally, he hoped for passion because his papa always told him to follow his dreams. Whatever you are passionate about usually equates to success, his mama always said. He wouldn't mind romance, as long as they get to know each other first. They are destined to be a part of each other's lives, so it is bound to be a pretty good life. He wonders if it would be romantic like the movies his mama watches, and forces everyone else to view as well. Maybe it would be a casual romance where they won't end up going into life threatening situations where they would proclaim their undying love for each other, or those risqué ones that his parents force him and his sister out of the room.

His mama has interesting movie tastes.

Lance went back to eating his cake after gushing over the possibilities with Cicero and Hunk. His cousins, aunts, and uncles teased his mama over his explanations. However, his family was concerned if his soulmate would have a horrible temper. Some of the more idealistic relatives thought that Lance could change that aspect if his soulmate had it, and the paranoid wanted to make sure to keep a strong bond with Lance in case anything happened.

Sixteen year old Lance knows his soulmate is an inconsiderate dick who broke his heart. A year later, Lance still agrees with the statement when he sees his soulmate again.

A/N: Crossposted on AO3. Some general info about the colors and what the writing is like. However, writing does not represent anything in real life, kind of made it up last minute one night where I did not want to find my book about nonverbal communication via handwriting.

Black – Power, Elegant, or Mysterious

White – Innocent, Serious, or Sickliness

Purple – Ambitious, Dignity, or Independent

Blue – Loyalty, Tranquil, or Wise

Green – Endurance, Jealous, or Easy-going

Yellow – Cautious, Intelligent, or Empathetic

Orange – Determined, Happy, or Distrustful

Red – Passionate, Romantic, or Anger

Loopy/curly = Creative

Left slanted = Realistic

Right slanted = Dreamer

Straight = Rule follower

"w" and "v" curve = Absentminded

"m" and "n" pointed = Efficient


	2. Chapter 1

Six Years Later- Galaxy Garrison- Library

Lance clicks on a link.

Here's some news about soulmates, but first, let's start out with common knowledge. Everyone has a soulmate, that's a given. They are people who build you up, and are an important aspect in your life. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are romantic, they can also be platonic. They allow you to fulfill your potential as a human being from supporting you mentally, physically, or emotionally. Building you up could be positive, allowing you to be patient, or negative like getting into an addiction like reading to cleaning to drugs. An addiction is just a vice that managed to be a big part of your life, but if your soulmate notices that the vice in question is not allowing you to function, they will help you cut it out.

Personally, my soulmate is like that, and we love each other for that. Constantly on the same wavelength, and she has a blog like mine. Ahem, sorry for the blatant favoritism.

Lance skips that to the good stuff. He scrolls past the color meanings—already researched into that since it was mandatory in middle school—and the meaning of the first words. Except, that was a good majority of the blog he just found, and the second to last paragraph left talked about how the handwriting describes the personality.

He reads the last paragraph, and it holds a nugget of truth that fortifies that something is wrong.

Soulmates who meet each other are elated. I remember meeting Kimmy, or better known as JiggyCatz. The two of us met at a park—cliché I know—because we had to do an assignment for different classes. I was to sketch nature scenery for my art class—refer to my previous post here—and she was supposed to capture some animals with her camera. She asked me to get out of a shot because there was a squirrel close by, and I said I was there first. The feeling was intense, being struck by lightning intense, but there was warmth. Needless to say that the two of us forgot about our assignments and talked. Anyway, it is common to feel something akin to electricity or fire when someone said your words, and warmth fills your heart. Truly it is a magical feeling. Everything clicks into place as time goes on, and to this day I feel it.

The post on the blog is done, and he doesn't bother with reading the summary at the bottom about the author. He exits out of the webpage, and logs off the computer. He gets up and exits the library; his hands are in his pocket as stomps to the training area. He needs to find his soulmate and confirm his theory.

He clenches his right hand into a fist, he can feel the phantom tingling feeling from half an hour ago.

He recalls talking to Hunk about how the top of the pilot class—fighter class Keith Kogane—was all hot shit. That the guy could get a perfect score on the simulator program that Iverson came in and had them test. It was to rank everyone in the pilot program. He was literally one point short for getting into the fighter class, from what Iverson showed everyone on the board.

Keith Kogane, sixteen year old who follows orders, great at hand-to-hand combat in their sparring classes, studious, and can fly simulators perfectly despite using risky maneuvers. There are two flaws he has—from what he seen—is his attitude toward the other cadets, and his mullet. The guy is sporting a look from the late twentieth century, and for crying out loud it's the twenty second century. The guy cannot get with the program, and he was ranting to Hunk with his voice filled with indignation.

He suppose that his ranting was a little too loud, and he managed to capture Keith's attention.

 _"Who are you, and what's your problem with my hair?"_ Keith asked, his lips downturn slightly.

He opened his mouth, about to make a retort when he felt like an electrical current coming from his forearm. He gulped, and he wanted to make this count, even if his soulmate happened to be Keith, the guy he detests since day one since he never gave any of the other cadets the time of day.

"Just a guy who's going to be in the fighter class," Lance boasts as he grips his arm slightly. He never knew how weird the experience was, sure he heard about it from his parents, but it's one thing to hear and another to experience.

He watched Keith's reaction, but the guy just gave him a deadpan look, "Okay. That still doesn't explain anything about my hair."

He could have groaned or face palmed from that response. In hindsight, Lance figured he should have, but instead he was riding the high of, 'Keith freaking Kogane is my soulmate.' "It's a mullet," he states, like it explained everything.

"No it isn't." Keith said, and it seemed he ended the conversation as he left. Going off to the training area because it is their free midday block.

"I'll show you a picture and prove you wrong!" Lance yells, getting the last word in.

He was holding his forearm the whole entire time, and Hunk noticed it. He pulled his best friend off to the side, specifically into the janitorial closet, and showed him his arm.

Instead of the vivid red that Lance was well acquainted with, the red is faded with black outline around the words.

A sign that his soulmate first talked to him directly.

He was freaking out in the closet with Hunk, who didn't know what to feel at the time, now that Lance thought about it.

"You met your soulmate, congrats! Wish I could get you something," Hunk said as he hugs him.

"Dude, you don't understand. My soulmate's _Keith_." He stresses Keith's name, and Hunk's eyes widen.

"Keith, the guy who you literally just complained about." He pointed at the door, and Lance nods. "Lance." He said softly, worry and concern melding together.

"Yeah." He's flabbergasted, and thought about Keith's reaction when he said his words.

His best friend is speechless, and he's in a similar boat.

"Cicero would be laughing," was the only words that escape Hunks mouth.

"Yeah."

Something wasn't right. He needs to go find Keith, but first an investigation must be conducted.

"Sooo you going to tell everyone back home?"

"I will…just want to talk to Keith first." He said morosely, and Hunk nods.

His friend patted his shoulder, and the two left the closet. Hunk headed off to the canteen—probably thinking as he fiddles with the utensils instead of going to the engineer room to mess with parts for a future project—while he went to the library to investigate.

Needless to say, Lance knows something is definitely wrong. Keith should have felt that tingling feeling, unless the guy has dead nerves. He knows that Keith spends his time in the training area, either attacking a dummy or lifting weights. Either way, cadets wear casual clothing instead of their standardized uniforms. He has to see if Keith's arm is similar to his, the black, grey, or white outline present around the letters.

He has the perfect excuse, pulling out his phone, and searching up mullet pictures. He hopes that it is there is evidence that he said his words on the other's arm, otherwise…no. Lance shakes his head, 'Think positive like mama always said.'

He struts to the training area and enters it. It is one of the largest rooms in the facility, there are two training areas—one for the lower year cadets, and the other for the older cadets—that are similar in design. Half of the room is a large open space with varied dummies, and punching bags for some, and the other designated for weights. People can spar where the dummy area is, but they have to move the props, usually getting an older cadet overseer or teacher to move it.

Lance spots Keith by the weights, and he makes a beeline toward him. Keith is wearing sweats, and a black t-shirt. "Hey Keith, so I found a mullet that looks exactly like your hair." He said as he gets closer to the other, and tries to take a peek at his right forearm.

"Who're you again?"

His eyebrow twitched, "We literally talked when Iverson released everyone. In the halls, remember. I said your hair was like a mullet, and you walked away. I'm here to prove my point." He shoves his phone in the guy's face.

"Oh." He gave him a blank stare before putting down his weights and grabbed his phone to look at the picture. Lance saw his words, and his chest tightened. "My hair doesn't look like that. Bangs are all wrong."

"Yes it does." Lance said tersely before taking his phone back.

"Hey cadet! Either get out of here or go to the changing room," the overseer called.

"Sorry!" Lance yelled and jogged away from Keith. He forced a grin to the overseer, "Had to show Mr. Bigshot that he's wrong about something. Won't happen again, please don't give me a demerit." With that, Lance races out of the training area without hearing the overseer say anything.

There is no way he's getting a demerit again, especially from seeing that bombshell.

He clenches his fists and his emotions are in turmoil. Should he be morose? Should he be angry? Should he be elated? Lance settles on anger as he paces down the hall to get his thoughts in order.

He isn't worth being Keith's soulmate. He couldn't provide any kind of support the other needs, but apparently the asshole could help him. He's Lance freaking McClain, he studied his ass off to get into the Garrison, the guy who managed to convince one of his best friends to join one of the programs with him, to travel the stars, and be on his spaceship in the near future.

That, that fucking hurts more than it should. He's suffering from something that is considered to be a myth, one-sided soulmate. Goddamn it, was this how Marcus felt when he found out that Alma was not his soulmate? That she has a reciprocated soulmate with Anthony.

Fate literally bitch slapped him, gave him a purple nurple, and throwing proverbial scalding hot water. He wants to punch something and cry even though he is furious. His eyes feel wet, and he dry swallows before stopping in the hall. He looks up at the florescent lights, and focus on his breathing. Just like how Hunk deals with things, think about that. Hunk. Cicero. Mama. Papa. His little Batty Catty. Lil' Jose. In. Out. In. Out.

Okay, he can deal with this. So what if he isn't Keith's soulmate, not going to be skin off his nose. Keith can't even properly show his emotions, it's like talking to a brick wall with that guy, a depressed brick wall. He bets that the mullet asshole couldn't even comfort someone. He doesn't even like the guy, so it looks like Fate can go screw itself. He will prove Fate and Keith wrong. He doesn't need him as a soulmate. He doesn't need a crutch. He can be equals.

Equals. He can do that, prove to him that he can stand on equal ground, heck he can rise above him. They can be rivals. Yes, rivals, he likes that word. That will tell Fate and Keith to suck it.

Lance tilts his head downward, and blinks. Black spots in his vision, and he heads to the canteen. He'll tell Hunk the news, and the two can sneak out later for some comfort food. Find a decent Mexican restaurant, but if that's not there some Italian place. Maybe get pop, ice cream, plastic cups, and spoons for some ice cream float.

Today he can mourn, but tomorrow is a new day. A new day to one-up Keith, and show his worth. Starting tomorrow, he's going to find a way into the fighter class, and then battle Keith for the top spot in their year.

Watch out world, Lance McClain is here to make his mark.

A/N: I should have typed this out in AO3, but it is considered rude to look at someone's words unless the person offered. Lance only got a glance of the color.

I read too much, one of my vices. Addictions can be harmless if you can budget them in your schedule.

"A sign that his soulmate first talked to him directly" is exactly what it says. It's different if you are speaking in general because you are talking to a group vs one person.

Lance has unintentionally gave into Fate, he's using Keith as a goal to be better. This was one of the main points why I thought I can do a soulmate au with these two. They are competitive, and I can read into some scenes where they interact that Lance is going to prove himself to his soulmate (I know redundant, but I need to give him a motive).

Batty Catty is a nickname for Catherine, his only sister.

Zinnia yellow- daily remembrance (for Keith being Lance's soulmate but Lance isn't his. Pain of one sided soulmates and love)

Primrose – I can't live without you


	3. Chapter 2

Hunk and Lance are both in their dorm sitting side by side. They have Hunk's phone between them and a plastic cup in hand. They just got back from sneaking into a nearby convenience store, buying vanilla ice cream, cups, and a twelve pack of pop.

"What's up 'Ro?" Lance asks after he dips his spoon into his ice cream.

"Nothing much, you two?" Cicero replies, his voice echoing from being on speaker.

"We both know that can mean anything." Hunk says

"Fine. Nothing major. Lou and Jose got into a fight down the cul-de-sac. Something about pranking the Jenkins family by leaving chalk messages on their driveway. Honestly Lou was so proud of her pictures that she thought the two of them could confuse the family by drawing the exact picture a few houses down." Cicero snorts, "Your brother thought it was genius. They just got yelled at by our moms, saying that they shouldn't play at other people's houses. 'Course she thought that they got in trouble because Jose was slow, but hey could be any of them."

Lance smiles. It definitely sounds like Lou, the girl thinks that something harmless is pranking, and that everyone on his side of the family made it a game to either corrupt her or keep her innocent. Personally, he thinks that Cicero's sister knows what she's doing.

"What about you guys? Off to a fancy shmancy space school, like holy crow I should have come with."

"I don't think so. You would have encouraged this one to sneak out more." Hunk pokes Lance's cheek, said teen puffs them out in retaliation.

"Hey I would have thought this place had better food, and we're like the only building out in this desert. Of course we are going to find the nearest town and hit it up. Maybe go to a club or go to the pool in the summer, I want to see some chicks, not these segregated swimming areas." Lance complains after shoveling a spoonful of ice cream and pop.

"And I want to stop sneaking out so I can sleep at a reasonable hour." Hunk confesses as he sighs.

Lance throws his arm around his friend's neck, "Hey, you got to admit, you love it."

Hunk rolls his eyes.

"Aw look at you two, having a bonding moment. Wish we can sneak out all together again, it'll be just like old times…I can't really see that, but I'll assume that it's so sweet that I want to vomit." Cicero fakes a gag noise as the two laugh at his ridiculousness.

"Yes, Hunk here is embracing me as I sit on his lap. He spoon feeds me like a servant does to his prince, and we are making out every two seconds," Lance says with a falsetto as he bats his eyelashes at his large friend.

"That doesn't sound like what normal people do." Hunk laughs.

"Yeah but that's what I wish my soulmate would do." Lance remarks before clamping his jaw tight.

Shit. He wasn't supposed to say that with Cicero. He and Hunk literally had a feelings jam a few minutes prior to calling their friend.

"Don't we all." Cicero laughs. "Doubt that I would want to do that with mine, but I have you guys to do some crazy shit."

"Hey what I do is tame, and I don't want a part of your little 'adventures.'" Hunk states as he gazes at Lance. He half hugs his buddy, and it would have been better if his arm wasn't currently around the other's neck.

The tall brunet looks over at Hunk's right forearm, and his friend happily shows it to him. He can't read the words, they look more like symbols, but it's nice to look at the yellow brown color. He sighs before sliding his arm back down to his side.

"That's true, but who would patch us up when we're being stupid?" Cicero inquires.

"Hey! Reckless not stupid. We literally tested all of the laws of physics." Lance inputs as he gets another spoonful of his treat. Hunk raises his eyebrow, "Correction. Almost all of them." He rectified his statement as Hunk nods.

"True that. Anyway, I should be going. Got an essay to write, and I don't want you guys to sleep in before someone wakes you up army style. I'll tell the folks you two said hi." Cicero said.

"Bye." Hunk and Lance said.

"Bye. You two better tell me about your infamous embarrassments later."

"Hey," Lance said before the call ended. "Rude," he mutters before looking at Hunk, "let's finish this up, and watch the old movie about Apollo 13."

* * *

Textbooks are stacked beside him in the library, towering over his head in two separate stacks. There were multiple books for some subjects such as biology, physics, first aid procedures, flight maneuvers, geometric, calculus, rules for syntax, and melee weapon cleaning. Needless to say, Lance is fully prepared for anything later in the year that his instructors may throw at him.

He just doesn't have the energy to actually open one up and start to read it. The teen sighs, it may be Day 2 after he declared his rivalry, but this is going to take a lot of work. He's tired from just looking at these piles of books.

Studying to be number one is going to be a struggle.

Lance gives a side glare at the devilish textbooks. Maybe he should just be number one for the flight simulators, and flight theory. Basically anything that is the core of the piloting program, and not the core of high school education. He nods at the thought and reorganizes the books on the table, everything not essential to his program to the right, important to the left.

He's not going to lie, his eyes watered a bit when he had only four books to deal with and not the other twenty-three. He placed the books on the cart, making five trips all the while the librarian staring at him with half lidded eyes. He can feel her eyes on him as he makes his way back to his table, and she continues to stare at him. God he's so uncomfortable, and he shifts in his seat before taking the books to the circulation desk. The woman continues to stare at him, rarely blinking, she doesn't even greet him or make small talk like the other librarian who is on her break. He hands her his id and she scans the books. He takes his things and leaves the torturous tomb of archaic books with her all-seeing guardian.

Lance actually shivers when he steps out of the room, and put as much distance between himself and the place. He needed to leave anyway, having to go to his next class, which is flight theory. He finds it strange for it to happen right after testing out the simulations, or just doing exercises the first half of the block before getting into the simulators. He can go pester Iverson about his score the other day, find out when the next placement test is. That way he can be prepared.

He checks the clocks on the hallway, and its thirty after noon. He has half an hour to kill until the next session, he could grab a bite to eat, can't forgo meals is one of Hunk's many mottos he lives by. The others are, "make time for yourself," and "don't do anything that could cause you to panic." He tweaked the last one, "don't get caught so don't panic," quite clever on his part.

Lance jogs to Iverson's office, and it is quite big in comparison to the other instructors since he is the head honcho in the Garrison. A couple of times he received his demerits with the man, but he managed to use the old McClain charm to knock down the first few. He still had to report to the man even if he managed to weasel his way out from the other instructors, a punishment instead of having a mark permanently on his record. He's just a first year, he cannot start off with such a bad rep, and his parents will know that he was there. His mama can give a tongue lashing and his papa will be so disappointed.

The cadet knocks on Iverson's door, his shoulders squared back, and he gives a proper salute.

If he is going to sway anyone he has to get on their good side. Iverson is known to be a strict instructor.

"Come in," the instructor said in a bellowing voice and the door opened.

Lance steps in, lowers his arm, and says, "Commander, I would like to talk about the other day's results, sir."

"Speak Cadet McClain, I don't have time here." Instructor Iverson tersely states as he keeps his eye on his paperwork.

"I was wondering sir when the next placement test is, sir." Lance said, being direct as possible, but trying not to be demanding.

He does not like being here. Iverson knows his name from the other times he came here to receive punishment, and whenever he called him out in class. He is sweating at the nape of his neck, he does not do confrontations with a senior officer with semi demanding tone. The last time that happened, he had to suffer through a humiliating conversation in front of the rest of his classmates. God he hates Instructor Kyle's guts for that.

"Hoping to get into the fighter class eh," Iverson said, finally glancing up.

"Yes sir."

"Too bad. Placements are annual so it looks like you have to wait." Iverson gives him a condescending smile, "Statistically those who are cargo class pilots rarely make it to fighter."

Lance's fingers twitch, but he refuses to clench them into fists. "Is there any way to take the test early?" He inquires. "Sir," he says as an afterthought.

"Why do you want to do that cadet." He phrases it as a sentence rather than a question.

"I want to beat Keith sir!" He firmly states his reasoning.

Instructor Iverson barks aloud. "Cadet Kogane? Cadet, you say the darnest things. He is way above your skill level, now if you said Cadet Dauphin that is a thinner skill gap."

Lance's face feels hot and he clenches his jaw momentarily before releasing it. He just needs to calm down, and get through with this.

"Now if that is all, get out of my office. I will see you and the rest of the cadets at one hundred hours."

With that Lance leaves. He walks straight to the canteen fuming, purchases an apple, and walks to flight theory. The door is open, and he tears into the remainder of his apple before disposing it in the reciprocal. He takes his seat in the middle, and glowers at the back of his rival's head, who is a row ahead of him and to his left.

God he really hates Keith's guts.

 **If you want people to leave you alone or show that you don't like them, make direct eye contact while saying nothing. Creepy but efficient.**


	4. Chapter 3

**The Garrison is a pretty weird learning facility. I have a headcannon that they don't care if you miss class, as long as you are in the library, training area(s), or working on something for a different class. Occasionally this will be abused, but there is a counter measure that all students generally have to reach a certain grade that is combined with all your classes. If you are dangerously close to the cut off, they will assign you mandatory tutors. Garrison needs as much people as they can, as it is a private learning facility geared to some specific vocational areas (don't want to say private school because that makes it sound like Catholic or Christian school). Even with those counter measures, the instructors won't fill you in on what you missed—even if you were doing something important—but will give you the work that was assigned.**

Forever on his phone calendar—and an ancient paper one from Hunk's side of the room—marks Day 133, otherwise known as February 7th. He marks it with a black sharpie before capping it and throwing it to his bed.

He follows suit, face planting onto his pillow and screams in it. He is at his peak, his emotions—anger, frustration, and his pride—are let loose, dying down from the agonizing tone that leaves his mouth. Lance fists the pillow closer to his mouth to muffle his pain. He doesn't care that he is acting like a toddler, be he needs some kind of outlet to take his emotions out on.

He can't talk to Hunk—his friend is working on an important project in the library—and he can't tell Cicero his problem. He doesn't know that he is having troubles with his soulmate—he had to spill because the Garrison had a week off for Thanksgiving and he saw his arm—because he never told the truth about his circumstance. The same thing with his parents; he didn't want them to feel horrible that he has a soulmate that didn't reciprocate with him. His whole family and close friends back home know that he has a soulmate and he doesn't want to disappoint them.

He cannot call them and tell them that he's upset over something that should make him elated. He should be jubilating that he got into the fighter class spot, but he just wished that it didn't have to be this way.

He recalls everything prior to his regression like breakdown.

He noticed that Keith wasn't at the early morning run. He assumed it was due to the other male being faster, and was up ahead. He had to push himself farther, leaving Hunk's side for the daily morning jog that is mandatory for all cadets, no matter what program they are in.

He also noticed the teen wasn't there for their physics class, and he could be facing detention. Detention itself is a punishment rarely administered in the Garrison from Lance's experiences. It's usually the last resort if someone has been out of conduct multiple times, the instructor believing that a fitting punishment is to miss class instead of demerits or odd punishments. Cutting into your learning is one of the harshest punishments—besides some privileges that are taken away—because they all have a shot to get in the Global Space Program.

Personally Lance was ecstatic. Keith managed to get himself in detention, and he can beat him in physics. His greatest strength is physics, and it already helps that he studies with Hunk. While he doesn't know Keith's grade during their only core class they share, he can assume it's in the upper percentile. He never seen raven haired male study for tests, never cramming before class, and the guy is in the fighter class. Not to mention his grade in flight theory isn't something to sneeze at.

He's willing to utilize any advantage he has to one up him. He paid extra attention to class, rarely getting distracted from Hunk whenever he tapped his desk when he's half-paying attention. The guy understands a lot of this stuff, but it is a requirement to take the class.

When flight simulation class rolled around, Lance thought something is up. Even though detention is one of the last resort punishments, Keith wouldn't do something stupid to warrant at least two classes of his absence.

From what Lance knows, Keith is the epitome of a perfect cadet. He takes risks when he feels like it is necessary, studious, strong-headed, and focused on each task given to him. While he may be the textbook definition of perfect in those aspects, he gets out of line when he believes he has done something he thought was right instead of assignments, or certain maneuvers. Nothing that gave him a demerit or two, and he is stuck in detention for who knows how long.

He hates to say it, but he's worried. It's not fun when his rival isn't here to even compete. It's one thing getting an edge, and another to not be in the running. If he can't one-up the teen what's the use of trying? No, Lance shook his head, he can't think that. It doesn't matter if he is or isn't here, he wants to be the best in the Garrison, even if he can't shove it in Keith's stupid face.

A minute before class starts, Iverson called Lance up. He was perplexed, he didn't do anything to get the resident hard-ass instructor on his case.

"Yes sir?" Lance asks as Iverson pulls him off to the side.

"Congratulations. You moved to fighter class," Iverson tersely states.

Lance couldn't believe it. His heart is soaring. Finally he's in the top notch program like he was meant to be. He couldn't help but have a large grin on his face.

His elated feeling halted when he recalled Iverson's words months prior. The only way to move up in ranking is through the test, and that doesn't happen until the next year.

"Not that this isn't an honor, but why?" He asks, hesitant to receive an answer, but searches the instructor's face. Iverson's frown lines are deeper than usual, and he bites back a thought about the wrinkles the man gained from that face.

"Cadet Kogane dropped out due to disciplinary issues." Iverson said, and he tsks at the end. "That boy was a fine pilot if he could reel in his temper. Now get back to your seat McLain. Paperwork's transferred so you're taking simulations with the fighter class cadets now."

He felt numb. No empty. A hollow victory that isn't even one. More of a standstill where you know your side got the worse deal.

Throughout the day he felt that, he shut off all his thoughts—girls, skin care, his tests, homework etc.—until he was walking back to his room with Hunk. Pain settled in his chest, his heart was beating loudly in his ears, and he couldn't keep his breathing even. He took deep breaths then shallow ones, and back again to even it out.

He walked to the shared room with shaking legs, circles the calendar, and lets out a scream of hurt and rage.

Lance calms down slightly, clenching the pillow as he stares at his wall. He doesn't know how long, or when the laugh started bubbling in his chest. He palms his hair, as he lets it out. The sounds that escape his throat are harsh and curt. He did it long and hard, and he coughed a few times riding the high.

His body trembles as his laughter slows. "God fucking damn it." Lance curses quietly, and his eyes sting. He repeats, "God fucking damn it."

All it took was for one person to drop out to get into the fighter class. He didn't really earn the title fighter class. No, he's still a fucking cargo pilot, and everyone is disappointed from that.

He wipes his eyes, and turns his body to stare at his ceiling. His fists are clenched into his pillow and blanket.

He isn't good enough to be a fighter pilot, he chuckles darkly as he tightens his fists. Not good enough to go due to his own merit. Not good enough until Keith decided he wanted to drop out all because of some kind of disciplinary issue. Lance snorts before clenching his jaw. The guy didn't bother to stick around to be his rival. Dropped off because he was suddenly too good for the Galaxy Garrison, who trains eager young minds for the next frontier.

Keith decided enough was enough, and dropped their whole rivalry on a whim. Fine. He can find someone else to be a guideline if that mullet wearing loser isn't going to be here. Add ten points or something to make things more accurate.

He turns around to glare at the calendar. He'll make sure Keith regrets this.

If he can't compete against him then he automatically wins. Not the greatest victory, but he'll make sure he comes out on top the next time he sees him. He'll be greater than Keith ever was, or will be, if he stuck to the Garrison. He can hold it over the teen, and shove the fact he didn't need him to his stupid face.

Lance doesn't need Keith, not the slightest. He knows he'll meet him again one day, even though he thinks that his one-way bond is inane. It has its use, to show him that he can go on just fine—better—in his life without the short teen being around.

* * *

"What kinds of food do you like?" Hunk asks, directing the question to their new teammate.

Just today Hunk and Lance managed to get on the same team for the rest of the year. They are the engineer and pilot respectfully, but they need a communications major to complete the triad.

"Peanut butter. Well any peanut products without just plain peanuts, like those peanut butter mochi. Delicious. Oh, and smooth chocolate, and pizza. Especially peanut butter with pizza" Pidge lists as he taps Hunk's desk. He then pushes the bridge of his glasses up, and flickers his eyes at Hunk, challenging him to think that peanut butter and pizza are not a good combination.

Hunk rubs his neck and chuckles nervously. Lance snorts at the two.

Lance's seat is pulled off to the side of his buddy, and this is the only shared class between all three programs where it is mandatory for teammates to be with. It's in the classroom where his old flying theory took place in.

"I would kill to get some pizza," Lance says, "maybe some different toppings. Like a sunny side up with ricotta and pine nuts. Ooh and some roasted cauliflower."

He is salivating from the thought of it. The two blanch at his suggestion.

"Seriously Lance?" Pidge says, "That sounds awful."

"He's not even joking. I saw him eat that." Hunk inputs.

"Like you have room to talk, you think Hawaiian Pizza is a good thing or anchovies and feta cheese is."

Pidge's mouth is wide open, and scoots his chair a bit. "You guys have weird tastes."

"Hey don't knock it 'till you try it." Lance says as he puts his hands behind his head. He tilts his head to the smallest member of the team, "You put peanut butter on perfectly good pizza! Peanut butter!"

"Cadet McClain, I don't want to hear you from here." Instructor Vargas warns.

"Hehe sorry sir." He says sheepishly.

"I think we should all try our favorite pizzas, that way we can see what's the best." Hunk suggests and Lance groans.

"But peanut butter is such a strong smell." He whines.

"No it isn't! It smells perfectly fine, in fact it is the greatest smell on the planet. No, the whole galaxy!" Pidge states, "Not like anchovies, ugh. I hate that fishy smell."

"Cadet Gunderson, same warning as your teammate." Instructor Vargas said as she leans down to his ear.

Pidge flails around, startled, and Lance slapped his hands over his mouth as the instructor left their group. He tries to quiet his giggles as his eyes look at a familiar desk. His laughter dies, and he frowns lightly. He touches his pocket, feeling the papers in there, before turning his attention back to his teammates.

"-aying that you should give it a try. Don't know what could tickle your palate." Hunk says as he wiggles his fingers close to Pidge's face.

He must have tuned out from their conversation, and immediately Lance focuses on the two.

Pidge moved the digits from his face slowly. "I just don't like fish."

"Oh. Well you can still try Hawaiian Pizza," Hunk immediately brightens.

"Hunk pineapple belongs in chocolate, sprinkled with sugar, in a smoothie, made into a dessert, or eaten plain."

"Says the guy who eats tomatoes whole."

"They are juicy and delicious. Mama always sneaked me one after grocery shopping, and I always buried them in the garden. Heck, we have our own tomatoes at home that appeared one day thanks to yours truly." Lance points his thumb to his chest.

"Dude, I think your parents bought a tomato plant for you." Pidge deadpans and Lance deflates.

"Taking Hunk's side huh. Betrayal from by my best friend reopen once again." He remembers the similarity between Pidge and Hunk's words when he was ten. Cicero was the only one who believed him, along with Jose and Lou when they were old enough to understand.

"Everyone should be close to the end of the 'Getting to Know You' activity sheet. Class shall officially begin in five minutes." Instructor Vargas said and all three of them look at their sheet.

They are on question two, "What is your favorite food?" The first question was about what program they are in, and there are ten questions printed on the single sheet. The next questions are what are your favorite colors, music, superpower, TV show, animal, hobby(s), relative, and if you could be anywhere in the world where would you be?

Standard questions, but the three of them look frantically at one another.

"One two three not it," Lance touches his nose and Pidge follows right behind.

"Oh darn. Fine speed round." Hunk says before sighing. "Orange, Scottish music, the power to make everything safe, Once in a Lifetime, and I love parrots. I love to cook, read, and watch the sunrise. My favorite relative is my mom, and visit Kaneohe again."

"Turquoise, alternative, power of probability, Prison Minds, cat, I code and game, my brother," a look of pain crosses his face before Pidge continues, "and I would be in Giza."

"Too OP," Hunk comments under his breath and Lance is bewildered before listing his favorite things.

"Forest green or a sky blue, pop, emotions, pick up chicks and game, and that one's difficult. I'll say Jose because he looks up to me and Varadero Beach."

"What kind of super power is emotion?"

"Well emotion regulation. You know, make someone feel attracted to me, calm people down that stuff. Probability?"

"Anything that could happen, I have control over." Pidge smirks and rubs his hands in glee. There is a reflection on his glasses, and if Lance is being honest with himself, it is a little offputing.

"That's why I said OP." Hunk said before holding his hands out in front of them, "Come on, slap it! New team."

Pidge is hesitant to give Hunk a high-five, but Lance instantly does it. He holds his hand out toward Pidge expecting him to hit it, and the poor guy looked baffled between the two hands. He then concedes and slaps both of their hands. The guy gives them a lopsided smile, "New team."

Vargas claps her hands twice, getting everyone's attention. "Back to your seats everyone. First day and all, but we need to get started."

A/N: September 28th. Lance rips out the month that is circled black, does the same with September 28th. He keeps it tucked in his pocket as a reminder. Keeps it with him forever. Same with August and February since he came to the Garrison that day and found the bad news about Keith.

Global space program: The highest tier anyone can reach. They are people who are experienced or promising rookies in the aerodynamic field, communications, or engineering—includes building or intricate wiring—of each nation. People from there go to a neutral nation to work together and it is also a way to build relations with one another. Think of it as the Olympics, except aiming for humanity's benefit.

Lance doesn't understand feelings. He may be on the right track, but the conclusion is way left field.

Lance and Hunk marks things down on the calendar.

Hunk days = orange

Tests/exams = red

Anything bad/don't want to do = black

Family days/events = brown

Important Garrison events = yellow


	5. Chapter 4

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk are sprinting down to the lower floors of the Garrison. That meteor—space ship, flying object—crashed somewhere in the desert.

"There is no way we'll get there in time," Pidge complains as he sprints behind the two cadets.

"Just trust us and be quiet," Lance retorts as he and Hunk stop a few feet away from the junction of the two connecting halls. They duck behind the trash and recycling recipricals. Pidge only had to duck down slightly to avoid detection.

The trio waited there a few minutes until the sounds of running footsteps were gone. Hunk gets up first and leads the two off to the right, toward the nearest exit at the back of the facility. The three of them head behind a stack of rocks. Pidge looks back and forth between their position and the Garrison.

"Guys, we're in the wrong place. We have to go west not north." Pidge complains as he taps his thigh.

"Don't worry about it, Hunk and I made something super cool last year. Well more like I gave the idea, and he built it." Lance shrugs as he goes behind the rocks and touches a dark grey button in a crevice.

With the button pressed, part of the piles of rock disappeared with a blanket over it, leaving only bits of a. It was a hologram that Hunk had embedded in a blanket that Lance provided. Pulling the blanket out, there is a jeep underneath it.

"Where did you guys hide one of these?" Pidge inquires as he slides into the back seat, placing his backpack beside him.

Lance pulls out a key from his pocket, and slides into the driver seat. He waits for Hunk to get in before he books it.

"I seriously hate you're driving," Hunk says as the car jolts before he strapped in. He is a little green, and Lance drives on.

"This is an emergency," He says as he slams on the accelerator.

No one can hear them. Hunk installed a muffler last year, so no one could hear them. It was way easier than walking into own when they got their hands on a damaged jeep that was going to the scrap yard. Hunk managed to rewire the car, the keys were gone. It wasn't until Hunk got a basic outline of the ignition, first using a 3D printer before trying to make a rough outline of the key from the Garrison. They had to go to the nearest hardware store to get a professional look for their key, testing it out. While Hunk was dealing with that, he had to find a brown cloth to cover it. He then covered it up, and it worked for some time.

Most cadets or instructors head back behind the facility, which worked in their favor. The two of them would then work on buying parts to clean up the jeep, after Hunk got his hands on the tech for the hologram. How he got it, Lance will never know.

Lance drives to a cliffside, and he stops the jeep. Pidge slides out of the jeep, legs shaking, and he gets down and sets his laptop up. Lance turns off the car and slides out. He sees Hunk hunched over to the side and he rubs his buddy's back.

"Let it all out bro, let it out." He rubs his back, comforting him as Hunk spills his dinner all over the rocky terrain.

Hunk groans and Lance winces. He might have been driving faster than he usually did, then again Hunk tends to hurl often. He pities his friend for having an upset stomach, but it assists with his culinary skills. Hunk was a guinea pig for any amateur cook, and it is horrible whenever Hunk has to eat it. He gives his honest remarks, and he tends to be harsh.

The two of them go to Pidge when they hear him holler about something, a live video feed about what's going inside a recently erected tent over the space ship.

"That's the pilot of the Kerberos mission," Pidge whispers, entrapped by what's going on.

Lance is speechless, Takashi Shirogane, best pilot the Garrison ever had, is alive. He was confirmed dead a little over a year ago, and he cannot believe his eyes that his hero is alive. No, he shakes his head, he can't get distracted now. Shiro is strapped down to a table, and trying to say something. Voltron, and that someone is coming for it. That name—Voltron—Pidge mentioned something that he got from the frequencies out in space.

He might not know a lot of things, but he knows a few. Voltron is definitely important, and dangerous, his mind helpfully supplies. Shiro is panicking, trying to warn everyone, but that also can account to him being kidnapped for a year. 'Shit,' he thinks. Shiro's been through some kind of shit, and being strapped to a medical table is not helping. His hero is trying to warn everyone, but they are ignoring him. Giving him questions he can't answer—that isn't important—before knocking him out.

He clenches his fists in anger; Shiro's just trying to save these people after all the crap he went through, and this is the way the Garrison repays him? Not cool. Not cool at all. The ultimate act of betrayal.

"We got to get him out of there," he finally says.

"Yeah, especially if can see if he knows where the rest of the crew are." Pidge adds and Lance nods.

If one person survived, the captain and the communication technician should have survived as well.

"Well we need some kind of distraction if we want to rescue him." Hunk inputs, and Lance silently agrees.

"Anyone got a plan or some kind of distraction?" Lance asks, as he looks between his two sons.

Just when he said that, there are explosions a few miles away from the site. The instructors are driving out in the jeeps and Lance is excited.

"Okay how did you guys did that? That was literally magic. Come on Hunk, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Hunk weakly protests.

"Hey guys, look over there." Pidge points close to the site, and he has his binoculars out.

There is a dark figure drive up on their hover board at the site. Lance takes the binoculars from his grasp—choking the poor boy—and zoomed in on the figure. A man with a neck scarf over the half of his face, and he has a mullet.

"Keith." Lance hisses out before dropping the binoculars and sliding down the loose rock.

His rival didn't show up for a year, and somehow managed to find himself here. Like hell that's a coincidence. Keith managed to get the glory of being the best pilot before getting memorialized for being the first cadet to get expelled other than his grades.

He finds himself to the ground quick, and he sprints inside the tent. Bursting through the flap and the door, he sees Keith has one arm under Shiro. Pushing the table out of the way, Lance got to the other side of Shiro, and put his arm under him.

"No no no, I'm saving Shiro," Lance protests. What he means is that Keith isn't taking all the glory again. He's here to prove to him that he can save his hero; well that's what it came down to, he just wanted to help Shiro out.

"Uh who are you?" Keith asks, drawing a blank, he stops from hauling the older man.

Lance is flabbergasted. Seriously this guy didn't have the decency to remember his own rival. He knows the guy doesn't know that he is his own soulmate, it's stupid. He's offended by the question then he thought he would be.

"Uh Lance McClain went to the Garrison. We were classmates." Keith gave him a blank look.

"Were you an engineer?"

"What? No! I'm a fighter pilot!" Lance protests as he helps move the deadweight in their arms.

"Really? No wait, weren't you the cargo pilot?" Finally Keith asked the right question after like a minute of trying to remember him.

"Well I was until someone washed out." Lance acidly retorts as he continues with getting Shiro out of the pod and tent.

What is the deal with the guy? The best pilot in his year couldn't remember him. Him?! Lance McClain. Maybe he should have started off as his rival, or the best student with a skin routine. Heck, his pores are better than some of the girls, and he swaps some of his homemade remedies with a few other cadets. Casey and Julie are two of his friends he managed to gain, but they only talk to him about beauty products. Nothing about going to the movies or getting coffee, shooting him down before he could seal the deal.

The hurt he felt during that time—whenever girls reject him or anyone overlooks him—pales in comparison to the feeling he has. Seriously, who wears a neck scarf at this day and age? Not to mention a three-quarter jacket, is he trying to be cool? He scoffs.

Whatever, he'll deal with this later, right now he has to stomach being in the 80's reject's presence. He won't be touching Keith's arm for long, as they got out of the door and the flaps. They had to climb on Keith's hover bike two minutes later with their instructor's their tail.

* * *

He got up early, like he usually does. He can't do his skin care regime, but he notices that there are two people short in the little hut. He gets off the floor, and looks out the window to see the two missing individuals. Shiro and Keith are standing close to one another, and he can just read the mood between the two of them. While Lance may not have the same level of perceptiveness as Hunk, he can read body language well. From what he can tell now, Shiro's exhausted. That's a given, due to what the ace pilot had to experience in less than twelve hours, but he notes how strong the other is. His shoulders are dipped down slightly, and he notices that the hollow of Shiro's throat is deep for a moment, then the man exhales slightly before talking.

Keith looks concerned, but hopeful at the same time. He is frowning slightly when he heard Shiro talk—the voices muffled from the wall—but there is a ghost of a smile. Lance snorts before realizing that Hunk and Pidge were still sleeping. Hunk didn't even stir from the sound, but Pidge's soft snoring halted.

He panics, his neurons firing fast, figuring out the potential scenarios as he is frozen. Pidge not snoring is an indicator that he is going to wake up. He glances at the window then back at Pidge, he cannot risk anyone seeing him by the window now. If the two ex-Garrison cadets saw him when they look in the direction of the shack, their reactions will vary on two ends of a spectrum. His hero would most likely be disappointed, which isn't something he wants to feel. The poor guy just got back from being abducted by aliens. He could also act like nothing happened, but Keith would be off his chain. He would be glaring at him—accusing him for intruding on his little moment with the older male—or start yelling thus waking up the others.

With Pidge, his teammate would be curious to see him, and the guy is persistent once his curiosity has been piqued. He remences the male going into his dorm to find his Christmas stash for his loved ones—trashy romance novels, a large hand knitted sweater, coloring books, a gift card to Coffee Brewery, headset, a knitted hat, and a butterfly net—after spending twenty minutes unsupervised in his dorm. He had to find new places to hide the headset because a certain someone tried to get his gift early. Needless to say, the short teen didn't get his gift until a week after Christmas, he was that persistent.

He sucked in a deep breath, and glances at the teen in the beanbag. Pidge rolls to his other side, and curls up in a tighter ball. He sighs, stealthily steps away from the window, and heads to his spot on the floor—Shiro claimed the cot, Hunk the couch, Pidge the beanbag, and Keith a chair—laying down on the threadbare blankets. He pulls up the top most layer up, and stares at the ceiling.

He contemplates how close the two are, that's a given. Keith apparently knew where Shiro would touch down—the guy rigged explosives and he does not want to know where he got them—along with seeming gentle when dealing with the pilot. He wonders what their relationship is family, friends, or lovers? No, he shouldn't be focusing on that, but on how much Shiro knows about the dropout? The poor guy is suffering from some sort of amnesia, or is it a mental block about his memories in captivity?

God, he rubs his temples, he can feel a headache coming up from contemplating about those two.

His thoughts trails to other topics such as how are they going to go back to the Garrison. Known for the galactic space travel, the place has horrible measures when confronting others. The place literally tried to sedate Shrio when he was talking about prepping weaponry against the aliens who captured him. He doesn't know how often beings from outer space even came to Earth, did they receive the same five star treatment as Shiro?

Either way, he fears about what the Garrison would do to him, Hunk, and Pidge. The instructors definitely saw some people on a hover bike, but would they link that three out of the four teens are students? He and his crew are dressed in their civvies and not the standard uniform. Lance sighs, panic ebbing away from all the questions swarming in his mind. Not like the instructors will know that they helped stage a prison break.

What if someone notices that they are gone before the day is over? Sure it's a Saturday, but their friends are bound to see they aren't there. Someone might not say anything to the instructors, but later on what if an instructor remembers their faces? He knows that he and Hunk tend to get into trouble, either getting caught for taking extra food from the canteen, or staying out after hours in the pool. Their illicit activities of going to town have yet to be discovered, but the soldiers patrolling the area could say something about not seeing them.

If the three of them happen to stay out a little longer, the chances of them being found could last until Sunday or Monday. He wants to be back inside his dorm chilling with Hunk and finding Pidge where they plot out days to hang around the famed pilot. If they don't return by then, someone will definitely notice their absence. Who would call his mama and papa, telling them that their son is not in school? Would they freak out and post missing posters again when he didn't tell them where he went, or would they rant at whoever called them to find their precious son?

'Backtrack, don't get yourself worked up McClain, what you're thinking sounds like you got kidnapped. That did not happen, but everyone else could think that. You just have to make sure to get back before any of the rounds, which should be easier than sneaking out of detention.' Lance takes a deep breath through his nose and exhales. He whispers to himself, "I wouldn't mind sticking around longer to just talk to Takashi Shirogane, maybe he'll say something about his past or give me tips. He's bound to like me, I'm he handsomest one here…my face creams!" Lance jolts up in horror.

His beauty products are back in the door, and he never missed a day of his skin care regime. What if his face gets dry? The probability of that is high since they are in a desert. What if he gets pimples, and his flawless face is ruined because Keith slept on these blankets?

He needs to find a mirror or some kind of reflective surface pronto.

Scrambling up from his sleeping area he nears the closest of the three doors that aren't the front door. Pidge groans and mutters under his breath as he opens the door, and finds out that it is a closet. He shuts the door—not quiet and his sleeping mates are either cursing quietly or groaning—and goes to the next door. Behind door number two is a washing machine and a dryer; why does Keith need a room dedicated to cleaning his clothes?

Just as Lance shuts the door, another opens. He looks to see Keith and Shrio enter, coming straight from their little emotional chat.

"Good morning," Shiro greets him. He sounds enthusiastic despite being in a hellish situation around twelve hours ago, and acts like he isn't in a room full of grouchy or half-awake teenagers.

"'Morning." He says before going through the last door. He thinks he hears Hunk tiredly echo a good morning and Pidge mutter something about mornings should be abolished.

Lance sighs in relief as he sees a mirror, he's grateful that there is a bathroom in this shack. It may be small, but it has the standard appliances for a full bathroom. He closes the door behind him and leans over the sink to examine his skin. He doesn't spot any blemishes or pimples to his naked eye. He knows the tentative balance of his epidermis, and there could be a battle of extra oil or dirt trapped in his pores. They are ready to make their battlefield show, and cause undying embarrassment for him once shown.

"It's okay Lance, you can fix this," he says reassuring himself.

When he gets back at the dorm he can rectify the intense battle happening currently. Exiting the bathroom, he notices that everyone's standing up. He goes to the back of the group, with Hunk and Pidge, as he watches what's going on. Keith is in the front of the group, with Shiro, and unveils a cover over a corkboard with pictures pinned on it. 'Looks like a conspiracy board from those old films.' Lance notes as he listens halfheartedly to the words escaping his rival's mouth.

"There's this energy source coming from this area," Keith points to a large picture that already has words on it, "and I found a cave here with these pictures of a blue lion."

Wow. This is quite fascinating Keith, pictures on a wall where he thought he could feel something out. He can't believe that his rival is delusional, thinking he has some kind of ESP, and he can feel out something big will happen aka Shiro's arrival to Earth. He will give him an educational guess that something did happen, but it doesn't make the raven haired teen less delusional.

Shiro nods at the desert hermit's explanation and he turns around. He comes toward him with his right hand extended out. "The name is Takashi Shirogane."

Lance looks down. His whole arm appears to be a metallic prosthetic, and he can't help but feel a twinge of pain. His hero, the man in front of him, was tortured. His hair is white, a scar across the bridge of his nose, and his whole arm lobbed off. It is amazing that he could move the prosthetic. The only good thing about the man is that he isn't malnourished, at least the aliens fed him.

"Lance," he finally said as he firmly grasps the firm hand.

The pilot of the Kerberos mission shakes everyone's hand, or tries to in his buddy's case.

At least Hunk can be positive in a situation like this, even though it came from snooping in Pidge's bag. He can't help but feel amused that Hunk's a snoop for necessity and Pidge's his inquisitiveness.

Well…look's like they are going to find Voltron.


	6. Chapter 5

'I'm sooooo booooored,' Lance mentally complains as everyone is walking toward the source of energy Keith sensed. The idea of Keith being an ESPer is laughable, the guy can't get out of a maze with a spiritual stone at the end. 'Bet he can't sense that, faker.'

Ignoring his displeasure of Keith—stay focused my man, you can do this. You're Lance McClain and you're a miracle worker—Lance should have expected he would be bored. It took Hunk two hours to craft his energy finding device—dismantling the dryer, washer, dishwasher, and the microwave—that they will use. He's lucky that the refrigerator escaped Hunk's appliance disembowlment.

He distracted himself by making some kind of food from the pantry and refrigerator. Cereal was not an option, which is a disappointment. He sees the ingredients for mac and cheese, plus breadcrumbs, and busied himself with making it. It took him about an hour, at least he didn't fight with his stupid s-rival; he might have complained with the amount of food left in the pantry or refrigerator. He does not want to make himself look bad with Shiro around.

After finishing that he had to mess with something before he goes crazy. There is literally nothing to do here.

"Food's done guys," Lance announces, but it looks like everyone is ignoring him in favor of making things or watching people make things.

He exhales through his nose. Fine, he can handle being ignored for now. Best to eat something piping hot, not like they can use the microwave to heat things up again.

He watches how everyone is. Hunk is tinkering with the parts on the couch, Pidge is typing away on his laptop, Keith is looking over Pidge's shoulder, and Shiro is watching Hunk with a vaguely interested expression. Great, everyone is doing something even though it is watching two people get to work.

Lance wrings his hands and taps his foot lightly against the tiles in the kitchenette. Looks like he's back to square one, before he looks at the lone table. Yeah, he can set the table. When he opened the cupboards he only saw four plates, and he tuts. Obviously mullet wasn't expecting company, but only buying one set of china. He shakes his head, for shame. He didn't even know that Keith could even sink any lower. He goes to grab the plates and a lone bowl before opening the drawer to the silverware.

"What are you doing?" A deep voice asked, and Lance turns around to see Shiro leaning over his shoulder.

"Getting the silverware for some grub I made. I mean, sort of past breakfast time ya know. Technically brunch time or maybe it's an hour before brunch. Well, important thing is that we get something in our stomachs, just in case our little 'quest' takes longer than three. We need to have something getting out." Lance rambles as he puts the silverware inside the bowl.

Shiro nods, and Lance feels his heart warm at the silent praise. He can't be any happier than at this moment. "Let me help you." Shiro takes the plates, bowl, and silverware before he could protest as he sets the table.

'Shiro would make a decent husband,' Lance thinks, 'wonder if he'd like Melony.' His older cousin Melany has always wanted a boyfriend who is considerate about household affairs, but at the same time, her tastes lie with the goth or emo looking guys. He teased her endlessly about if they wear a pastel orange shirt that she would dump them in a second. He even got his innocent brother in on it, and Melony was spouting out "betrayal from my favorite kin," while she dramatically holds her chest.

Ah, good times. Note to self, call Melony asap or send a text reminding her about how dramatic/shallow she is after brunch.

With that passing thought, Lance snapped out of it to hear Shiro calling everyone to eat. The teens look over to the pair in the kitchenette, and Lance's eyebrows twitch. 'Oh I see how it is, not responding when I say food's done, but if they here Shiro then they listen. Maybe it's because he's authoritative or he said it louder.'

Pidge started grumbling under his breath that he was almost done with a program—maybe he needs it to connect with Hunk's invention—before setting his laptop aside. Hunk's already up, but Keith was the first one from the living area to get in here. Lance's lip twitches downward before he forces himself to smile, the guy acted like a dog than a teenager. Like not even a hungry teenager, just a overly excited dog pouncing on his owner after not seeing him for long.

He winces at the comparison, berating himself for a second. God what is wrong with him? Obviously whatever the connection the two of them have suffered enough from Shiro's absence. He shouldn't let his anger toward the hermit taint whatever relationship that the ex-officer and drop out have.

"Is he okay?" Shiro directs the question to everyone as he shakes Lance's shoulder. Lance blinks rapidly.

"What?" He asks. Seriously, why did his hero touch his shoulder? Not that he's complaining, but the guy rarely touched anyone after their bout of introductions.

"He does that sometimes. Like one time I shot grapes at him to see if he'd react, didn't even flinch until I hit him in the face seven times. Was shrieking when one splattered against his nose. Hilarious. I even got it on film." Pidge says before he takes the first seat to the right of the head of the table.

"Hey! I was thinking about how many shacks it would take to fill up the desert!" Lance lies indigently, he's used to Pidge's sass.

"It's not a shack, just a small house," Keith grumbles as he takes a seat across from the brunet.

"Keep telling yourself that." Lance rolls his eyes as he sits beside Pidge.

Hunk takes the pot of mac and cheese and divides it into portions.

"You don't have to do that Hunk, I could at least help out." Shiro says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's cool, need something to do when not focused on my work. You know." Hunk says.

Shiro sits down at the head of the table, and no one starts to eat until Hunk sits down.

"It's better than the last time," Hunk comments after eating a spoonful.

Lance rolls his eyes, "I figured people don't want slightly crunchy pasta."

"Who wants crunchy pasta? Are you some kind of heathen?" Pidge inquires as he raises his eyebrow at him.

"Psh you're the heathen. You just don't eat straight out of the peanut jar."

"That was one time!" Pidge protests.

Hunk and Lance stare at Pidge. "Okay, so maybe it was more than once. Like four times…all the time," Pidge amends his comment.

"You guys don't eat from the jar? It saves time to clean up any dishes." Keith asks.

'Like you clean,' Lance ruefully thought.

"Up high." Pidge said as he holds his hand halfway across the table. He's on the edge of his seat and leaning against the table

Keith looks at the hand for a second—confused, what's there to be confused about a high five—before tentatively slapping it. Just watching the exchange was painful. Lance shoveled food into his mouth, and looked anywhere but at his right side.

"I remember seeing him take a spoon and eat Nutella out of the jar." Shiro inputs, "Keith would always get some on his cheek because he took big bites."

"Hey you were the same with the marshmallow and chocolate jars."

Lance stares at Shiro in agape horror. No one should even eat that mixed up atrocity, yet perfect Shiro managed to do that. Not to mention straight from the jar. Looks like his hero can have some faults after all.

"Lance your face might get stuck like that," Hunk teasingly said as he grins.

He immediately smooth his face, and everyone at the table either chuckled, laughed, or snorted at his misfortune. He touched his face, he would never do that unless to swipe his fringe away to look at the ladies with his devilishly handsome face.

Everyone finish eating their food, and they all put their plates in the sink. Hunk went back to making the device, and it looked like its almost done. Pidge is on his laptop, but he is standing and looking at the conspiracy board next to Keith. The two of them are talking in hushed whispers, pointing at different places on the map and the pictures. Shiro is taking the role of supervisor, looking over the three of them, and asking questions.

It's weird being the one outside and looking in, he figured that the bubble wouldn't encompass the whole living room/bedroom of the shack. Normally he would go bother Hunk or Pidge, but things are getting serious, from the way that Hunk is absently muttering to himself as he tinkers with the homemade device. He is in The Zone, and bros do not interrupt bros in The Zone. Total counterproductive, and it would only hurt their bond together. Pidge on the other hand is biting the inside of his cheek. A tick he noticed when Pidge is on the verge of a breakthrough, but not quite. He isn't doing the whole mad scientist excitement look, but he figures it's only a matter of time.

Lance goes to the back of the shack and leans against the wall. He is not going to interrupt his friends just yet, maybe when things are less tense. Or whenever they are done with Keith's stupid ESP findings aka the quest because this guy thinks he's some kind of awesome sauce. He takes out his phone—mindful of the carefully folded papers inside his pocket—and unlocks his lock screen.

No new messages, no alerts, and no calls. The Garrison did not call his family just yet, the phone would be blowing up. He goes to his settings to put his phone on power saver mode, and turns on his data. He then goes to his messages and scrolls down to Mel Bear before hitting it.

Me: Guess what?! Found some bf material & he's in black but not a edgelord. So caring toooooo!

He hits send before powering off his phone. He loves leaving Melony in suspense.

Putting the phone back in his pocket, he goes over the couch to watch Hunk in his element. It's nice seeing him work with miniscule objects with his fingers, it's hypnotizing, not to mention the two of them like to work with their hands. Sure he can't make machines or is the best cook, but he can knit, juggle, and some made shadow puppets. He smiles, remembering the time that his friends, little brother, and Lou managed to put on a magic show for the neighborhood kids. Well Jose and Lou were young, but they made them the assistants.

Sighing at the happy memory, he looks around and taps his fingers against his thigh. Holy crow it's taking forever, but things are finally moving. Too bad he needs something to do and he is not going to be working out on the floor. It's dirty. He can't use the sheets he was sleeping on earlier because they are dirty—not to mention some of the parts are on it—and no way in hell he's going on Keith's bed to exercise.

Lance shudders at the thought. He doesn't know how long Keith showers, but even if he does it often, his locks are greasy. Not to mention how often he cleans his sheets. Sand and dirt could be in there. No way he's going to do a mini work out on there.

Lance is tempted to start pacing, but he doesn't want Shiro to get annoyed with him. Hunk and Pidge are used to it, and he doesn't care what the hermit thinks. Lance looks over to the kitchenette and immediately slaps his forehead. Of course, cleaning the dishes. God, if his mama saw his blunder she would have his hide.

Sauntering over to the kitchenette, Lance scrapes the bit of food left in the pot in a container he found after rummaging around in the cupboards. He wipes down the table before actually washing the dishes.

"What are you doing?" Keith asks from behind him.

Lance tensed up in surprise, and scathingly thinks, 'What does it look like I'm doing?' Instead of voicing his thought, he grumbles out, "Cleaning. Might as well do it."

"You don't need to do that. It's not your house." Keith points out, like he cannot fathom a practical stranger helping around in his shack.

He doesn't bother telling the male he's doing it to bypass the time. "I made the mess, I got to clean it up." He grunts out, focusing on the task at hand. He's still ridged, trying to figure out what his rival wants.

"I should at least help out," Keith argues, "you did make food."

Oh here's Keith trying to be the bigger man here, taking responsibility. Well it would have been nice if that came in around a year ago.

"Yeah but it's the least I can do for crashing at your place." He replies, trying to keep his tone even.

"You guys were kind of a handful." Keith admits, and Lance exhales through his nose counting backwards from ten.

He's had it from being nice. He can't be too irritated, and can't put up any competitions in case that agitates Shiro. He's had it even with minimum contact with his rival, and cannot wait to get back to his norm. Also, what kind of guys says that? The two of them aren't even friends, they are the furthest thing from it.

"Yes!" Hunk cheers, "It works!"

"I'll get my bike ready," Keith says, leaving Lance alone.

"Thank you Hunk." Lance mutters, his shoulders slumping from being tense the whole time.

Lance finishes up with the last dish and places it on the other side of the sink. They're already clean anyway, and his rival does not have a dishrack. He stretches before going to Hunk as he picks up his device before heading to the door.

"Might want to put the breadcrumbs on top of the mac and cheese and not in them." Hunk whispers as the two are the last to leave the shack.

"Other than that it's good right?" Lance is a bit apprehensive. His bro is a food critique who knows his shit. Nothing escapes his pallete, nothing.

One time he and Cicero bought baby food, and the guy managed to identify the smashed food. They had to make a medal of honor that soon Jose and Cicero's sister joined in on the fun. What was supposed to be a medal became a crown and sash.

"One of your best dishes yet." Hunk claps his shoulder and Lance gasps dramatically.

He wipes his eye before the two of them join the rest of the gang.

Everyone piles on Keith's hover bike and they are going to the area where Keith felt the energy spike. Obviously Keith is up front steering the thing to the pile of rocks, Shiro is right behind him, Hunk at the tail wing, Pidge and him on the other wings. At least he isn't actually griping on the wings like the night before. That was crazy even for his standards. Honestly Lance thought he would die when they fell off the cliff, not even close to what he convinces Hunk to do after hours.

That is a lot more thrill then the two are used to, and the two made the sign of the cross. He glances to the side to see Pidge grinning like a maniac when they took off. Lance shakes his head when he looks at him, and he clutches onto the sides of the wing. Some parts of the journey felt like Keith was accelerating too fast—like yesterday—and Shiro had to place his hand on his shoulder. He's thankful that the two are close, close enough to slow down the adrenaline junkie. At the end of their trip, Hunk had to regurgitate his brunch. He and Pidge are rubbing their buddy's back as he spills his guts.

"I'm good," Hunk coughs out before wiping his hand with the back of his hand.

He and Pidge looked at each other before shrugging. Hey, the big man thinks he can handle it, and usually he can.

Lance spends his time walking in the heat by staring at his hero. He compares Shiro with the pictures he taken before the incident. It was no accident that he lost his arm, and the scar on the bridge of his nose. He's happy though, Shiro looks better than earlier in the morning. He's elated that the pilot managed to seem less fatigue than usual. Maybe it has something to do with him cooking his gourmet mac and cheese.

Breadcrumbs are the shit, and he got the Hunk seal of approval. That's like the Guinness World Record material right there.

He theorizes that because Shiro managed to get some Earth food in his stomach—along with being in a safe environment for a long time when he's awake—means he's more comfortable around them. It has nothing to do with a familiar face, but it could help. It doesn't mean that Keith should be a jerk about spending most of his time around Shiro and only acting interested around Pidge.

Apparently they are at the rock formations from the picture, and that Hunk's device is getting some wonky readings coming from one direction. He isn't sure if it is southeast or northeast, but whatever it is they are lead into a cave that Keith mentioned before.

The lion carvings are more amazing than the pictures his rival took before, and he's fascinated that something stayed here for at least a few centuries. He sees some moss covering up one carving, and he brushes it aside, and the markings glow blue.

He's startled at the strange color, but then the ground underneath them shifts. Water is pouring out of nowhere, and everyone is screaming as they hit to a lower part of the cave, or should he say cavern. He's going to be honest, he's screaming, but it's from the sudden thrill. Everyone manages to land on the ground safe and sound albeit wet, but that doesn't matter.

"Whoa," he breathes out as he sees a blue lion standing up elegantly.

Everyone is chattering around him, and he ignores them. They all get up to investigate the lion, and there is some kind of force field—particle barrier—around it.

Lance feels a pair of eyes on him, a constant steady stare. He looks at the lion to see that it's eyes following him. He moves around side to side and continues to see/feel the eyes on him. He voices his concern, but as usual, they ignore him.

Maybe it's because he says that the lion's eyes are following him, and the mechanical being is like a statue. Keith is wondering how to get through the barrier, and he makes a snappy comment.

"Maybe you need to knock?" He suggests as he actually knocks on the force field and it goes down.

That wasn't all. He felt his whole body warm up, not like fire in his veins, but more like the warmth from the sun when you sleep outside. His whole body is tingling slightly, like he's a battery fully charged instead of running on his reserves.

Is this what people say when they hear their mutual soulmate talk to them for the first time? It's as magical as his mama made it out to be. Fuck his stupid one-way bond with Keith, he's bonded to a freaking mechanical lion.

He hears something, like a suggestion or an idea. To go inside. The problem is, he doesn't know where he should go to get inside.

The lion open's its jaw, and he races inside, with the others trailing behind them. He goes into a pilot seat, and realizes that the lion is a ship. Everyone's inside, and he feels the gentle prodding again. Instead of feeling a gentle—but powerful—voice, he sees an image. The blue lion he's in is the Blue Lion, one part to a robot named Voltron. The very Voltron that Pidge has been getting transmissions about.

There are a few things he's certain about. One, he loves the high he's riding. Two, he found his new favorite color, and that is the shade of blue on Blue.

 **A/N: Lance needs to something with his hands when nervous/stressed and he doesn't want to work out with Keith's dirty floor. Also, those legs man need some space to spread them out. Said space needs to be clean, and you can bet that Keith doesn't own a hover.**

 **I fell in love with the idea Lance knits, and that comes from a fanfic. I forgot the name, but the Lions can become real cats, allowing their paladins/paladins they trust to see them. Lance was knitting little sweaters for the mice as part of a bonding experience so he'd understand them like the others on the Castle. It was brilliant because the mice were in there, along with other character interactions. (on AO3 for sure, don't know if it's here)**

 **So yeah, you guys found out why Lance wasn't throwing a hissy fit last chapter when he spotted Keith. He's pretty tame now, but only when soon-to-be Space Dad is around.**

 **This was actually the first part of chapter 5, but I'm going to post the second part later. If you guys spot any grammar issues, contact me please. Posting this past midnight, and I'm a bit exhausted from reading a textbook before taking a quiz.**


	7. April Fools!

**This is not part of my canon, I repeat, this is not a part of my canon.**

The alarm sounds, and Lance is still hunched over a toilet. It's been ringing for about half a varga, and he still isn't done. He's pushing his fingers down his throat and pushing down on his stomach. He can barely breathe, and it's getting difficult to find a way to cough up the flower petals. His body is rejecting the lodged flowers in his lungs, and it's getting harder as every quintant-every varga-as this goes on.

His eyes water, and spits out a few violet colored petals from his mouth. He thumps on his chest, trying to get him to cough, and is successful of lodging a small bud from his esophagus. He heaves in the bowl before wiping his mouth, he needs to hurry. A Galra fleet could be attacking or an important meeting from a recent distress signal that some alien civilization just sent. Most likely a distress signal, the ship would have been hit from one of the Galra lasers despite four Lions are out. If his team is defending the Castle well enough even with four Lions, they could have easily destroyed the fleet if he go to Blue and formed Voltron. His heart stops, he heard his door open

"Lance!" Allura calls out and he hears footsteps in his room. The footsteps, not to mention her voice, get louder, "Lance you failed the test alarm. What if Zarkon attacked us righ-you don't look too good." Allura scolds him before opening his bathroom door. "Is that flora? I didn't know humans could do that."

His eyes widen and he says with a raspy voice, "Sorry Princess. Your knight is sort of purging something minor. I'll be fine."

"I wonder, I haven't seen that kind of flora from any of the planets we visited." The Altean Princess bends down to pick up a few violet petals from the tiles.

"Yep. This is sort of normal back home. Remember that one of my school friends caught it."

"So it's a disease." Allura states as she drops the petal before washing her hands.

"Sort of. Completely harmless," Lance lies through his teeth, "it's sort of like the slipperies."

She nods, understanding his white lie. "I see. Well that still doesn't excuse you from not being in your suit, well back in the hanger." She looks him, and Lance is still clad in his Paladin armor since the last two vargas.

"I'll be there."

"Alright then. I'll tell the others about your disposition." Allura turns on her heel, and leaves the bathroom.

Lance is stunned for a minute, processing what the Princess just said, before running after her. He has to get intercept her from going to the command deck.

He curses to himself, sometimes he forgets that Allura is fast even with a short head start. He didn't catch up to her-or she took a different route, which he sincerely hopes-and he burst through the doors out of breath. He seriously hates this stupid disease.

Pidge, Shiro, Keith, Hunk, and Coran look at him. Pidge rolls her eyes before continuing her conversation with Coran. Keith scoffs, rolls his eyes, and smirks a bit before talking to Shiro and Hunk. Shiro gives him a concerned look, is about to lecture him, while Hunk purses his lips and attempts to go to him. Lance shakes his head before leaving the command deck. He'll get his earful later on. He waits outside the door and taps his foot. Holy crow he's got to get Allura to not say anything.

He spots Allura coming from the right and he immediately goes to her.

"Please please please please please Allura, the most beautiful princess in the entire galaxy, no the entire universe! Don't say anything to them!" Lance pleads as he walks beside Allura.

"While I respect your privacy Lance, I need to inform everyone. This could affect Voltron," Allura said as she walks through the doors. "Everyone, I have dire news. It seems that Lance came down with an infliction."

Lance wants the floor to suck him up and become one with the Castle. It is way better than the looks everyone is giving him. He bites his lip, he needs to do damage control. "It's nothing guys, Allura here thinks that a bit of coughing is like a sickness. See." He fake coughs into his hand and gives them a smile. No one is amused.

"But I saw bits of flora spilling from his lips." Allura innocently retorts, glaring at Lance. "You shouldn't lie about your health."

It is a lot worse than he thought. He winces at everyone's faces. Everyone-beside Coran-is looking at him in horror.

"Lance," Shiro goes up to him and touches his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell us you have hanahaki? Please, confess. For us, we don't want you to waste away."

"I-I-I," he gulps before continuing, "I'm afraid. I know that person won't love me."

Lance glances at Keith for a moment, his eyebrows are furrowed, and he steps closer. He immediately looks at Shiro, so he won't piece together the root of his affliction.

"Lance everyone here loves you. No one's going to reject you."

Lance looks at Hunk, who keeps looking at him than Keith. He's about to open his mouth and Lance shakes his head. "I can't."

"Lance you could die!" Keith shouts, intruding on his and Shiro's bubble.

"So?! I'd rather feel that love and forget him," he immediately clams his mouth shut and looks away. Fuck.

"That leaves Coran, Shiro, Keith, and Hunk then." Pidge says.

"Hey for all you guys know it could be a Arusian." Lance says and Pidge glares at him. Her glare tells him to shut up and be serious. "I'm pretty sure like all you guys are straight, but you know what. Fine." He stalks up to Hunk and his bro shakes his head. His bro knows that he has feelings for his one-sided soulmate. Before his friend could open his mouth, to dissuade him from sealing his fate. "I love you Hunk."

Lance's eyes water, and his throat tightens before he feels the plant's roots break past his lungs, constricting his heart, and the zinnia shoots up. The violet flower blooms in his mouth as the Blue Paladin falls onto the floor.

That day marks the death of a teenager, who is far from home. A teenager who fights in a war besides his closest allies. That day his allies grieved, and the one that his flower once blossomed for grows his own.

A love that was never ventured, so nothing was gained. Only heartbreak remains.

Seven went down to six, and then five.

That day marks the continuing reign of Emperor Zarkon, after he learns of the fallen Blue Paladin. He sends his commanders, the entire Galra fleet to capture the vulnerable Lions, and takes hold of his prize. The last Alteans are slaughtered, and the Paladins died beside their Lion's side in their vain effort to save the universe.

…

"And that my child is how Emperor Zarkon expanded our race to the rest of the universe without those blasted Paladins in the way." A Galran mother said, closing the story as her tired child closes his eyes, "The moral of the story is that love kills, and it does not conquer all like our human slaves say."

 **A/N: Happy April Fools!**

 **So, right now I'm procrastinating before writing two essays and an outline due in two days. Awesome right?**

 **Well a little thing about this AU. It's Hanahaki, which I either put in chapter 1 or never mentioned it. Don't remember, but I will repeat this later but I'll tell you guys something. If you are having like almost open buds and you confess to your infatuation and they say no, there is a rapid growth. You die within minutes, and I will express YOU DON'T DIE IF YOU CONFESS TO THE WRONG PERSON because that would be dumb. I needed a quick and dramatic way to write this down. Tootles.**


	8. Chapter 6

The Blue Lion lands in front of a pristine white and blue castle. Lance was only following what Blue felt, guiding him, his friends, rival, and hero onto an unknown alien planet. He innately knows that Blue wouldn't do anything to harm him, will how warm and tranquil feeling that is surrounding him, even when they were battling that purple Galra ship.

Blue lowers her jaw, singling that they should get out. He's reluctant to leave, but he feels Blue's gentle prodding to go, and feels the support from the advance ship. He steps out of the ship and takes a deep breathe. He can still feel a connection with Blue.

"So how are we going to get in?" Hunk asks, pointing at the humongous doors.

Lance shrugs, his Lion managed to get they here, not like Blue can get them inside.

Blue stands up on her hunches and roars. The door opens.

'I stand corrected.'

He saunters inside the vast, dark, and desolate building. Everyone else is ambling cautiously inside. Honestly, they are acting like Blue would take them somewhere dangerous. He trusts her. Everyone stops at the center of the dark room, probably wondering if they should continue without a light source. His phone battery is around eighty and use that.

The second after they stopped a light-a scanner-came down on then. It was...weird to say the least. A scanner happening as to activate when the door opened, and he felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. Nothing to be worried about, the pins and needles when your limb presses against your nerves. What really freaked him out-besides the lights on the wall illuminating-was Shiro immediately tensed and got into a fighting stance. The man startled him, and he looks around the area, but no one came. Shiro relaxes.

Shiro's actions startled everyone: Pidge lifted his fists up chest level, Keith has his hand on the hilt of his dagger, Hunk is flailing his arms around, and Lance is like "what?"

He may be tense and confused but he has a reason to trust Blue. She makes him feel complete, and lived like his entire family, so it's sad to see how instantaneous Shiro's reaction is. Still, he would have Shiro's skills in a fight, if his reaction is like that. Distantly, Lance recalls if someone's reaction time is honed, that person is good at fighting or dodging.

Nothing happens for a minute, and Lance sighs in relief. He knows he could trust Blue. Now they have to follow the creepy lights, at least the tingling sensation stopped.

Even with the underline feeling of calm and some kind of purring-Blue is one special girl-he does not like how the lights turn on as they walk down the halls.

"It's like some kind of abandoned museum," Lance voices his thought out loud as they turn a corner that is suddenly lit up.

What gives? Does this place have some kind of motion sensors?! Harmless, sure, but whoever built this place cranks up the creep factor here.

"More like a bad set up for a horror film." Pidge comments as he drags his hand against the wall.

"It's not that bad. This is kind of nice." Keith comments.

"Seriously? I feel like I'm being watched," Hunk shivers as he looks to the side and above.

"Nothing's going to happen big guy, what's the worse thing that can happen?" Keith asks, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and even Shiro looks at him with horror.

"Dude what the crow?! You don't say that stuff, it's like the main reasons why people die in horror movies! That and splitting up." Lance announces as he mimics Hunks earlier actions with terror and haste.

"I don't see the big deal." Keith says as shrugs his shoulders.

Lance's eyebrow twitches, he makes it his mission to get close to Keith and educate the desert hermit on the finer points of entertainment. "That's like the worse thing that could happen. You're going to be the first person that dies here. I hope you're happy."

"In fact, I am." Keith said as he moves away from the annoying teen.

"Keith," Shiro guys, "you should know better."

"You know I only watch psychological thrillers, sci-fi, and action movies. Horror is not part of the thriller genera."

"Technically thriller is under the umbrella, along with suspense." Hunk inputs before clamming up from the raven hair teen's killer glare he gave him.

"Yeah what my bro said," Lance said as they take a right turn.

"I have to concede with them," Pidge says.

"Yeah! The original trio back in action!" Lance yells then lowers his voice because it was echoing and smirks, "Even Shiro agrees with us."

Did he mention that this place is creepy? It is. It is hella creepy. The creep factor is worse when he saw his abuela come out of the garage to investigate a raccoon with a flashlight and a broom. She had her face mask on and he had nightmares for a whole month. That incident did not stop him from using face masks when he was fourteen.

"Well excuse me for not knowing movie trivia." Keith huffs, crossing his arms.

"It's cool. You'd be the first guy to die if we were part of a horror flick."

"I'm pretty sure it would be you since you're the idiot, I mean the comic relief." Keith smirks, not even trying to hide his insult.

"You are you calling a idiot?"

"Obviously the person who doesn't understand what I just said."

"You want to go bro?!"

"Lance," Shiro reprimand. "Keith stop."

The brunet breathes out of his nose and digs his fingers into his palms. He doesn't bother with giving Keith his gracious attention.

The lights stop illuminating outside of a door and they walk in front of it. The large door opens and the group cautiously scans inside the room. They can't see any alien lifeforms inside, he spots a few pods in a circle in the middle of the room.

Everyone walks to the center of the center, and Lance walks in front of a pod. Sure he watched some movies that the alien inside is going to kill him, but at best the building is just creepy. No one is going to die, and from a little over an hour he has bonded with Blue, he knows his girl isn't going to kill them. Maybe the aliens here will tell them about Voltron, the giant fighting robot.

He sees a beautiful woman when he got closer. Dark skin and either white or blonde hair. White, his mind supplies as the pod opens and the woman falls. He catches the beautiful alien, she is humanoid, she has pointed elvish ears.

'I wonder if she was inspiration to any fantasy writers,' he thinks before his eyes widen when the gorgeous woman opens her eyes.

Blue and pink, a weird combination but she pulls it off. It might be due to the pink arrows at the corner of her eyes, accenting her pink and blue iris.

"Hello," Lance says smirking, "looks like a beautiful lady fell into my arms." He winks for good measure.

He doesn't know how aliens flirt, so he might as well lay it on thick.

"Your ears," the woman said, gazing at him with curiosity.

"Yes?" He asks and wishes to hear the woman's feminine velvet like voice.

"They're hideous," she says as she moves out of his arms, pushed his arm behind his back and roughly tugs on his ear.

"Ow ow ow ow," he yelps.

Getting his ear pulled is awful, but at least it isn't like his mom disciplining him with her chanclas. He pushes the horrid thought to the back of his head, he does not want any of those memories when a woman is man handling him. It's painful, but kind of hot at the same time.

He loves strong women.

Well, if he's being honest, strong humanoid people.

"Where did you come from." The beautiful woman demands.

"Easy miss, we came here through the Blue Lion." Shiro said as he appears as harmless as possible.

"The Blue Lion. Who is her Paladin? Did the Galra follow you here?" The woman inquires as she unhands him.

Lance straightens up, "I'm that lovely Lion's Paladin. I'm Lance McCLain. Care to introduce yourself gorgeous?"

The woman glares at him. "I am Princess Allura of Altea. We were at war with the Galra until...my father put me in the pod. Coran?"

A man falls onto the floor from the beginning of her introduction. Lance immediately went to him as everyone stood around the Princess. While Allura may be beautiful, he wants to be away from her for a moment.

So he might have been play fighting with the older orange haired Altean with a magnificent mustache. It's nothing bad, but he guesses that the Altean did not hear his leader saying his name.

"Coran." Allura orders, wanting her fellow Altean to get his attention.

"On it Princess!" Coran salutes and goes to a futuristic desk. He pulls up something, he was grinning before frowning. "We...we were asleep for ten thousand years and Altea is gone...good news though! Apparently we are on the planet Arus."

Allura gasps before regaining her composure.

Lance emphasizes with Allura. She lost her home and just found out, and even though he left Earth with the other humans.

It's amazing that Allura can be confident after everything. In fact, after the one second of weakness, she is just rolling. Allura took them somewhere, where Lance names the holodeck, and gets straight down to business.

Looks like everyone is on their own mission to get their own Lion.

* * *

"So are you going to be okay with this?" Hunk asks as he clenches on Lance's pilot seat.

Lance just flew through the wormhole that Allura opened up for them to get to the Yellow Lion. He really like how Yellow captures Hunk's essence, he will always be on the defense whenever someone is attacking one of their friends—usually verbally—before he goes on the offense.

"What do you mean? I don't mind flying you to this peaceful planet." He replies as he focuses on flying to the planet's atmosphere.

"I mean with Keith. You are going to work with him to form Voltron." Hunk says nonchalantly as he keeps an eye on his best friend.

Lances fingers tighten on the controls, and Blue purrs, calming him. Lance rolls his shoulders before dodging a Galra ship. "What the crow? I thought this place was peaceful!"

"Lance."

"Don't worry about that bud. I'm not angry at him, but I will say something if he does anything wrong. I'm miffed, not angry. Quiznack," Lance curses as he avoids a few lasers from the Galra. "Can we not talk about this now?"

"Yeah, sorry. Ugh," Hunk groans as he swallows any bile that might have forced it's way up his esophagus.

"Hang in there. I do not want to clean up again in Blue. She might not appreciate it again." Lance jokes as he jerk up, before forcing the thrusters. He goes low to the ground, using he planet's gravity to accelerate their descent, and he is few meters above the ground. "I'm going to drop you off as close as I can to Yellow and draw the Galra away."

"Wait. No no n-" Hunk yelps as Lance opens the under jaw hatch.

"Go get 'em Hunk!" Lance yells before turning around and shooting the laser tail at the small ships.

* * *

"Haha we did it!" Hunk cheers as he gets out of his hangar.

His buddy is holding his hand up and Lance saunters over to slap it before he puts his arm around Hunk's neck. "You beat we bid! Team Voltron is unbeatable! We sure taught those Galra not to mess with us, ain't that right Pidge?"

Pidge was already out of his lion and looking over Green if she had anything damaged. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure taught them not to mess with us." He said walking close to the duo.

The Green Paladin squawks when Lance reaches down to hug the guy. Hunk took it to be an impromptu hugging session and the guy looks over to Keith and Shiro, "Paladin hug?"

Pidge is kicking his legs and shouts in protest. Keith looks at the three of them scoffs at their absurdity. He leaves the hangers and Lance frowns at him and moves on.

What a jerk, he thought before looking hopefully in Shiro's direction.

The man holds up his hands as if he is surrendering, and gives them a small smile. "Maybe later, we all need to get cleaned up."

Spoken like a true h-leader. Still group hugs are something magical, even if the armor gets in the way of feeling how nice everything is.

Lance gasps, Pidge managed to kick him in the stomach. The teen escapes his grasp, and Pidge went beside Shiro. Lance clutches Hunk, swooning in his arms, "Our first successful mission and I'm hurting."

"There there, let's go to the common deck."

 **A/N: I love Coran, so everyone here is this gorgeous man. This guy needs more screen time in season 3 along with Hunk and Pidge. I'm like 70% certain that Lance is going to get another episode dedicated to him, but I also need assertive Hunk. I just can't have him have one part in the Space Mall episode. Well really, I want all the main characters devlped, but Lotor there so if he's shown a lot—along with Haggar—I'll be good. Also more Galra, am I the only one who was freaking out to see those Galra commanders? Yes? No? Whatever, I got Lotor's shoulders to freak out with too.**

 **I was really tempted to make Lance say "I love you" jokingly to Hunk when he dropped him on the planet. Then I remembered April 1** **st** **so I'll hold off on that.**

 **Chancla means flip flop or sandals if anyone is wondering.**

 **I don't know about you guys, but I really wanted to use the chancla here. Ever since I knew what it was, I imagined that Lance would get hit occasionally when he gets too out of hand. It's a Mexican thing and not a Cuban one, but hey, writers get leeway. Not all Mexican families use this as a form of discipline because all families are different.**


	9. Chapter 7

"Seriously this place was made 10, 600 years ago? It's a whole lot better than how everyone advanced on Earth." Lance says as he looks up at the ceiling in amazement. Coran is talks adamantly as he escorts the whole Earth gang down the halls after given a little tour of the Castle.

"Really? That is fascinating. It does not take much time for a species to make their cultures." Coran strokes his mustache.

They already reached Shiro's room, but the man decided to stay with them. Coran passed by Hunk's room and the big guy decided to go lay down. Just as they were leaving Hunk's room they heard him yell. Everyone went inside, Shiro was ready to attack any unknown hostiles, until they saw Hunk hugging yellow pajamas. There were various sizes, some had multiple holes for various alien body types.

It's a comforting thought that Lance will be wearing soft pajamas after feeling the goods that Hunk found beside the bed.

"I can't believe you remembered that? Did you learn it from a documentary?" Pidge asks.

"Yeah like how the Australopithecus Africanis was one of the direct links between humans and apes." Keith adds and Pidge looks him over.

"Dude did you hear about that myth they tried to disprove against Bigfoot?"

"He is too real. So what if they can't find his remains? The Bigfoot community are hiding, or animals could have eaten the bones!"

Lance steps away from the two. They can feel out all they want over things that were proven by science. He thought Pidge would know that Bigfoot is not real.

"Well I learned about the evolution of humans, dated back millions of years and we first descended from some kind of ape. I learned about it in the flight school because I did not want to take chemistry." Lance says and the two Bigfoot enthusiasts tut at him. Like they are disappointed about not watching it in his free time.

'They can geek out together, part of being a team or something.' He thinks as he makes sure to go on the other side of Coran, trying to put as much distance between them. He cannot believe that Shiro is willing to be close to them, even asking questions about their shared obsession.

"So humans evolved from a different species. So you guys mutated into what you are today? That is a rarity on most planets." Coran muses.

"Yes, that is if you are going that route. Some people believe that they already existed as humans. They say that their god, or gods because there are various faiths in our world." Shiro explains and Coran tilts his head.

"Ah just like the Corgions and the Zerifnards different religious faiths. They admit that we all turn into cosmic dust, but one civilization on their home planet Heric believes that their souls stay to protect the motherland or they latch onto the closest zium even if they aren't family. Sort of like protection charms." Coran slams his fist into his palm.

"Uh yeah." Lance nods. He didn't even catch like half the weird words

"Then again there was another faction of faith that was introduced, I don't know if they made it h-and this is Number 5's room! Make sure to get some shut eye, can't look like a yulmet about to sleep. Temperamental folks they are." Pidge mutters something under his breath as he clenches his backpack strap. "Where was I? Hmmmmm." Coran twists his mustache.

Keith shrugs and Shiro laughs. The pilot rubs his neck, "I got lost with all the alien names."

"Well not everyone can recall every race, but one quintant I'll teach all of you some common aliens. Well, what was common." Coran frowns momentarily before snapping back to his previous happy disposition. "Here is young Keith's room."

"Thanks." Keith grunts out.

He walks into his room after nodding to Shiro, who smiles, and Lance feels a twinge of jealousy before squashing it. He'll have time to spend with the older male even if he has to fight for it from Keith. He bets he can beat Keith in a fist fight.

"Yeah I'd like to know more about the Corgens or whatever they are." He says, trying to ignore the two's exchange as he focuses on Coran. The poor guy remembered he is displaced in time again.

He hates it when people are sad, it's heartbreaking.

Coran immediately brightens, his mouth is stretched across his cheeks, and the crow's feet around his eyes are prominent. The older male ruffles his hair-just like his dad did-before gripping his shoulder and directing him down the hall.

He doesn't understand everything coming from Coran's mouth. Still he learns that some kind of plant called dormir is native to the Heric planet that has properties like helium. Ocean's words where lighter than breathable air that give the two natives a varga of being in the air. He may not know what a varga is, but the plant is some kind of helium like thing.

Coran directs Lance to his room, and to be honest he doesn't know what to do. He sort of awkwardly said that he'll see him tomorrow.

"Of course, have a good night cycle and don't let the zinkans nibble your ears."

"The what?" His eyes widen as he holds his ears.

"Oh Lance, it's a child's tale where we would pinch naughty children's ears."

"Oh. Well, don't let the bed bugs bite. That's uh a Earth expression. To have pleasant dreams." Lance ends it as Coran nods.

"Got it!" He turns dramatically on his heels before walking like a soldier down the hall. He did this for some time before walking normally.

Lance went through the door, which is apparently his room for his indefinite stay in the Castle. He pulls out his pajamas from the side, throwing the pairs that aren't his body shape.

He slips them on and looks at the armor he was carrying. He has to admit, he looks good in blue and white. He hangs the uniform and goes through his jean pockets. He takes out the ripped out calendar sheets of September 2323, August 2323, February 2324, and September 2324. He takes his phone out and turns on the power.

Lance is surprised by how many text messages he has and the amount of phone calls not to mention voice mails. He gulps and clenched his phone. He spits blue lion slippers, puts them on, and walks down the corridor to Hunk' s room.

Lance can feel his pores opening up and he clench his teeth. He is running now and he is in front of the door. His eyes are watering at this point and he tries to clear his mind. He puts his hand over the panel, which is by the door frame, and enters the dimly lit room.

Hunk was lying on his side, his back facing the door, and he looks drowsily at him. "What are you-are you okay?" Hunk asks and he notices the tears in his eyes.

"I Hunk, just." He begins before swallowing a lump in his throat. "Our family, they know we are gone."

Hunk sits up and Lance walks over to the side of his bed. He sits beside Hunk who puts his arm against his shoulder. Lance leans into the older teen and presses play from Hunk's mom.

"Henry Nicoli Garret where are you?! I've been calling you constantly and Lance better be there because the two of you are thick as thieves. Everyone set up posters because I know the two of you did not just run away. It was your dream, well Hunk's was to become an engineer for the fighter planes and become a gourmet chef. If the two of you are kidnapped, along with that poor boy, I will find you. If you two are passed out for a couple of days because of Lance deciding to drink," it was only one time that he got wasted and everyone holds it over you, "I will find both of you and discipline you until you two are in your thirties. Please answer. Lance your phone isn't dead or broken. If you can, turn on your location." Hunk's mom pleads, her voice breaking in the middle of her spiel. They can hear her crying, and a man's voice comforting her.

"Mom," Hunk whispers out, tears are streaming down his face.

Lance is already sniffling, Mrs. Garrett was always there for them whenever they got in a scrap when he didn't want to go to his mami.

He plays the voicemails from recent to not.

God they weren't ready for it. There were thirty-seven voicemails. His mami calling the most, saying "Mi hijo venir espalda casa" (my son come back home) and Melony left a message twice. First was a joke that he got kidnapped by a handsome dark stranger, and another that she told his parents-the whole family really-of his most recent message from her. Heck even the Garrison sent a threatening message, saying they should be in class or else they would track them.

The two of them have been listening to the voice mails for a long time, even going to his messages to read the long texts everyone sent. He would have loved to hear his family crying out for them to come home, threaten to beat him with a chancla, put him under house arrest, or contact the police to keep him under lock and key so everyone knows where he's at.

The two of them managed to get through all of the messages, even with some of them were in Spanish. He read those out loud to Hunk—he understands it more than reading it, despite the two of them raised in the same neighborhood since they were eight his parents enrolled him to a English dominant school—and the voice mails weren't even done yet.

The two of them took a selfie when his phone went to fifty-four percent. It was for their own benefit really, wanting to take a pic when the read the messages.

Tomorrow they are going to send a picture of them not crying, showing that they are okay, and alive. Maybe get Pidge in on the picture too, assuming that the message will be sent all the way out in space.

Lance turns off his phone to save what little power he has, and he turns to Hunk. Both of them have their cheeks stained with tear trails, and snot coming out of their nose.

"W-we su-ure are a m-mess," Hunk hiccups and Lance nods.

"S-sorry. Th-ought you'd w-want to," his voice breaks and he buries himself into Hunks chest.

He doesn't know how long they were like that, being cradled in Hunk's arms for who knows how long. He knows it's long enough to help calm him down, and he pulls away from the gentle teen's chest.

He wipes his nose on the sleeve of his pajamas and takes a deep breath. "Thanks." He doesn't bother to look up into his friend's chocolate eyes. He's exhausted. Despite listening to the voicemails, everyone is concerned about them, even Tia Alexandra said something about Hunk, and she's usually envious of his cooking expertise after being one-upped by him when he was eleven.

Hunk rubs his eyes with his sleeve, "I'm glad you came here to hear their voices. It was…nice."

Lance nods. "Yeah. I'm just going to go back. Make sure you sleep well." He says, looking up before hugging the larger teen.

Hunk's arms engulfs him, and too soon he leaves the hug. He trudges to the door and he looks back at his friend. "You might want to change into something different," he jokes.

"You too buddy."

The Blue Paladin leaves, and slowly walks toward his room. It's weird walking down these quiet halls where there is a low hum all around. The lights are dim, different from before, and he wonders if the Castle is like that because it's "night" in this place. It's strange, Pidge's room is next door and the guy didn't leave, so he guesses that they weren't loud with their bawling. Maybe the rooms are soundproof.

As Lance ponders, he goes into his room, and take out a different pair of pajamas. He's shirtless, already his dirty top on the floor, and he looks around his new room. He sees a door in the back, and he wonders what it leads to. He opens it, and he's excited that there is a bathroom. Even a cabnit beside the mirror, he opens it, and his eyes widen. Face cream and a face mask. Well, what he can assume is face cream, and a mask. He knows those familiar containers even though he can't read Altean.

This is the perfect pick me up after a feelings session. He heads to his bed, and puts on his new pajamas with more energy compared to going up the hall.

* * *

Today is a terrible day, Lance concludes as he nurses a headache. First, he slept through some kind of emergency alarm after going to sleep late. On the plus side his skin looks amazing, and his eyes weren't red. Hunk looked alright when he saw him, didn't have a headache, but still he should have talked to him one-on-one before they had to do the training exercises.

He failed like all of the training exercises, he refused to work with Keith with the electrical maze, and everything other one too, but too be fair the mind meld was more of Pidge's fault. Then Blue was complaining about getting her head stuck in sand. He did manage to clean his beautiful lion, but what grated on his nerves was Keith during that blind exercise. He really shouldn't have competed with him because he did hear Blue telling him to be careful just when they were getting too close to the ground. Did he listen? No, but the only good thing he learned from the exercise was that his bond with Blue is strong—obviously—enough that she can practically feed him information, and it is terrifying that Coran has some control on their helmet settings.

Seriously, the man could do anything with a whim; normally he is cool with Coran, but he went too far in that exercise. Sure the two of them bonded when Coran showed everyone to their new rooms, but he just found out how serious the eccentric Altean can be. Especially when they heard about the blind Lion test was successful after the paladins of old flew together in multiple missions. Shiro was the only one successful in the mission, and he should listen more to Blue if they are going to do more of that instead of goading Keith to be the first one to pull out.

'Take that Hunk, I can so admit I'm wrong,' he smugly thinks on the couch, 'not like I'd actually say that to someone who isn't my family or my bros.'

Everyone is down on the common deck, lounging on the couch—Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and Keith—or standing as the two aliens are tutting at them.

"You know, we should at least try to find some kind of common ground. Sort of like that exercise in the Garrison." Pidge says as his head is hanging off the seat and he moves his legs back and forth across the back of the couch.

"That still did not make us better at flying," Lance said from his spot by Hunk's side.

"Correction, that did not make _you_ a better flier," Pidge smirks and Lance's eyebrow twitches.

He was about to yell at the younger male when his dark skinned friend squeezed his shoulder. A warning from Hunk, quietly reassuring him to not open his mouth, and the gesture was used with Cicero and Jose when they were edging into territory that Hunk innately knows will turn out disastrous if they open their mouths.

"What sort of exercise?" Allura asks as she walks to get closer to the humans, "We could try it out. See if your methods mesh well with your training."

"Oh I got it!" Lance jumps out from his place on the couch and touches the side of his paladin uniform. There is a small pocket dimension he found, and he takes his phone out of it. "We can take a group selfie!"

He doesn't know how long his phone is going to last, and if the day is going to go on with training exercises, then he better get a picture before the power runs out. He quickly blocks out the thought before his eyes could water. He isn't going to seem weak with Shiro around.

"I doubt a selfie wi-" Keith started when Allura interrupted him.

"What's a selfie?" She asks, walking from standing next to Shiro to get a better look at his phone.

Coran saunters close to Lance as he turns on the power then unlocks his phone. "What does this device do?"

"It's sort of a communication/photo/entertainment thing. Almost everyone on Earth has one." Lance cheerfully states as he sees the battery lower than the night before, and there are new messages, missed calls, and voicemails.

He might as well get this over with now, he has been waiting to do this, and he needs to show his family, Hunk's family, and Cicero that everyone is safe. He will everyone that he talks to on a semi-daily basis from the Garrison to the group message, and his friends parents. They deserve to know that they aren't in a ditch or kidnapped.

"Lance it isn't a bonding exercise." Shiro says as he walks near the couch.

"Sure it is. It's a bonding moment, and we're making memories." He says, he gives the leader his best puppy eyes, and looks over his shoulder to Hunk.

Hunk joins in on Lance's ploy since he's off the couch and is pouting. He even sees Coran mimicking the two of them.

"Come on, we can show Allura and Coran something from Earth too beside Pidge's laptop."

'Please please please please please say yes. I need to show them that we are save and that you exist.' He mentally pleads, his eyes water slightly.

Shiro sighs before nodding his head.

"YES!" Lance cheers and clasps Hunk's hands in his own.

Coran then takes each of their hands and lace them in his fingers. The two teens look at the older questioning. "What? Are we not celebrating a joyous occasion?" He unlaces his fingers from their own, "I'll just…yeah."

Coran's weirdness aside, Lance bounces back. "Okay everyone either sit on the couch in the middle or stand behind us. I'll take the picture."

Pidge gets up from his weird laying position and scoots to Keith who's in the middle. Hunk sits on Keith's other side and the temperamental pilot tries to get out of it. Hunk stops him by keeping him there. Shiro stands behind them on the couch. Allura is on Shiro's side, and Coran is on the other side of the princess. Lance leans a little across Hunk and turns his camera to the side. The mice even showed up, standing on Allura's shoulders, looking as cute as ever.

"Get closer everyone and smile." He orders as they do it with some grumbling.

"This is stupid." Keith mutters.

Lance would have said to Keith to shut up, instead he takes as many pictures as he can.

"Ok now silly faces."

"What do you mean by silly faces?" Coran and Allura inquires at the same time.

"Make your face look weird. Just make it look different from usual." Shiro helpfully comments.

Coran puts his hands on his cheeks and opens his mouth in horror. Allura looks confused before settling on something that looks like she smelled weird. Heck even the mice got in on it, the multi colored rodents manage to get on the four sitting teens heads and posing. Lance sticks out his tongue and closes an eye. Hunk puffs out his cheeks. Keith scowls. Pidge pulls his eyelids down and sticks out his tongue.

Lance lowers his hand and immediately starts making a message for his entire family—plus Hunk's family, and Cicero's while he's at it—as everyone is talking. He listens with half an ear as he makes sure his data is on. He then concentrates2 on selecting the photos—the ones he just took and the one he had with Hunk last night—and crafts a message about where they are.

He bites the inside of his cheek as he tries not to get too emotional with everyone around.

"About training exercises that should be Earth based," Pidge starts, "why don't we try the human knot?"

"No." Keith immediately shuts down the idea, "too uncomfortable. The last time that happened with five people it took us thirty minutes, a lot of sweating, and someone even farted."

"Maybe trust fall exercises?" Hunk suggests and someone tsks.

"Too easy. Unless you want to do it the Altean version?" Pidge counters and Keith hums in agreement.

Lance sticks out his tongue as he types out the final words.

"You can't substitute hard for Altean," Allura scolds.

"Think of it as a complement Allura," Shiro says, "considering our version is just falling backward. Usually it would be on higher platform, but we don't have that here."

"I could always whip something up. How high do you want it to be? My height or around the height half the Green Lion's forearm?"

Shiro was about to answer when Pidge snaps his fingers. "We could talk about that universal thing! Like if we met our soulmates or not."

"Soulmates? Like bond mates? Destined to be allies or enemies?" Coran asks.

"Yes, if soulmates are similar to bondmates maybe we can talk about it." Pidge shrugs as he stretches his arms.

Lance feels Hunk tense up beside him, and his finger hovers over the submit button.

"You want to talk about it later?" Lance whispers, leaning into Hunk's side.

"Why aren't you upset? Usually you are about this." Hunk lowly replies back.

"What?" Upset about what? Are they talking about how garlic knots are not the best thing in the entire universe or what? He will fight somebody, and the only food that comes close is abuela's and Hunk's cooking.

"Never mind."

Lance hums. He reads over his message.

Me: What up everyone? So me Hunk Pidge & Keith found Shiro. Pilot who crashed, 'member? Kidnapped by some evil aliens, Galra, nasty furry purple cat/bat humanoids who want to destroy the universe. So me being awesome found a robot lion, Blue, take pic later, and she is telepathic! She is the sweetest thing ever, and she took us to this castle and we found aliens. The white haired one is Allura, and she's a princess. I'll marry her one day or date her, whichever comes 1st and the one with orange is Coran. Dude's pretty cool, reminds me of Tio George but take it thirty notches when he's tipsy when he has his moments.. Everyone is fighting in the war against the evil aliens and apparently the Galra destroyed Allura and Coran's home 10 kya (long story). They were asleep for 10k until this handsome devil woke them up (well not really a long story but whatev). It's nice to see u guys care and send messages, but my phone's about to die. There are like no phone chargers in space, but so far we are safe for now. I'll ask P later if he can make a charger or something. No that's Hunk's field. Hunk says hi and we are each other's rocks here. We want to say we 3 u all. Ttyl latz hopefully.

A bit too long, but it summarizes everything that happened so far. Nothing too bad, and Lance hesitates to delete the part of the Galra, but someone needs to know about those awful aliens. Maybe their families can warn the Garrison as well, but he immediately shuts down the thought.

He adds the photo he took with Hunk and went down a space from his long message. He writes out, "Look at us goops, sobbing over ur messages."

The Garrison didn't even try to understand what happened to Shiro, instead they just put him to sleep as he tried to warn them about the danger Earth was in. That thought brings him to another. Is Earth still in danger? The Galra enslave every race, make some of them fight in the arena, and others work in their camps. Even though he and the rest of the team destroyed Sendak's fleet, when would another fleet come in the Milky Way Galaxy?

A hand slaps his forehead, and Lance yelps. He glares at Pidge, who is rubbing his hand, "Seriously, Lance you have a thick skull. We're doing a bonding moment now."

The brunet rubs his forehead, "Didn't mean you had to hit me."

"What can I say, I'm not waiting forever." Pidge shrugs.

"Pidge, apologize," Shiro orders as Lance hits the send button.

He glances at the screen and his heart jumps when he sees that the message is under process of being sent.

"I'm just saying it would have taken forever. Did you see this guy? During the rare times that he thinks it's like forever because he's so slow," Lance sputters indigently as Keith chuckles and Hunk laughs a bit as well, "and I'm not waiting."

"Is it a human thing to laugh at some criticism?" Coran asks as he looks over all the paladins.

"Sometimes. Most people take it to heart, and everyone else laughs or gasps. It's sort of like an insult." Hunk says as he wiggles his finger in Lance's side, causing the male to twitch. "Not that nice, but sometimes friends do it if their humor is twisted. Sorry Lance." The male apologizes

Lance aimlessly fights off Hunk's horrifying fingers. "I am sooo ecstatic that I'm the butt of the joke…hey, what are we doing?"

"Something that we shouldn't talk about because it's a waste of time," Keith says

"From what Coran said it seems that there are different types of soulmates used. It isn't just the human race having them but other extraterrestrial life." Pidge says as he gets lies in his previous position where he is lying on his back, and his feet are back on the seat of the couch.

He's going to be honest, he is not looking forward to this bonding exercise. He would have taken the invisible maze than this horrible topic. Heck, he'd rather watch his teammates' back on the highest difficulty while using the shields not to get hit buy those weird balls—being sucked into the hole where it was pitch black until Coran did something to bring them into the light—multiple times then deal with this conversation.

There is a reason why he stopped bragging to anyone in the Garrison about his words. Who was he kidding? Even his skin cleansing routine, fashion style, and hair styling for his younger cousins couldn't prepare him for Mr. Moody.

"Please Pidge, either put your feet to the ground or off to the side," Allura said as she leans over to tilt the Green Paladin's feet to the other side. "You call your bond mates your soulmates? Why? Do you find out who the other is by gazing into their eyes, feeling a sense of purpose or warmth? Do humans ignore it? I know most species use this type of bonding, but there are other types."

Shiro sits next to Allura and explains, "Well we have words on the forearm of our dominant hand. There are colors and our soulmate—bondmate for you—first words they spoke directly to us. The color and the way the words are written tells us about our soulmate's character before meeting them. When we do meet them, we either feel warmth or our arm tingling a little, kind of like a shock."

"So Earthlings can find out more about their bondmates even though they don't know if it's a kinship or enemy combatant." Coran muses.

"Soulmates are either platonic or romantic, not like your bondmates where it sounds like it's between platonic and adversary." Pidge says with his feet planted to the ground. "

'Why the crow would the universe want you to be destined to hate someone?' Lance thinks, puzzled over the fact that bondmates could be friendly or hateful. It sounds counter-productive, especially when it's compared to the human standard.

"Like how does it work?" Lance asks as he turns to the older male, hoping Coran could divulge information to them. "Is it different then getting words?"

"Words? Oh, I thought those were just symbols that all humans were born with." Coran says.

"Well for Alteans, we know if someone is our bondmate, or bondmates, when we lock eyes with someone. Our body becomes cold, but at the same time warm. This happens a few times until we realize that the person we were looking at is our bondmate, and it shows that we aren't coming down with a sickness." Allura explains before she tilts her head, "What do you humans do when you find out you have a bon-I mean soulmate? Can you have more than one like Alteans?"

Shiro decides to explain it to the aliens, "We receive words on our forearm. Those words are the first words that our soulmate tells us directly. Everyone get's a feel for their soulmate by the way the words look—slanted, bubbled, small etc.—and the colors of the word. The color that appears tells us about their personalities, something that is dominant throughout their life. When our soulmate says the words, our arms tingle a bit, some say it's like lighting but it's more like a short electrical current or a few needles going through your arm." Allura and Coran make a face, and Shiro's eyes widen. "It's not anything bad, some of us experience warmth from our words, and the stronger connection we have with our soulmate, like seeing them more often or having a bigger impact on our life, there's a intense feeling of either electricity or warmth. And when you meet your soulmate, the color on the words become less vibrant and that there is a grey or black outlining it."

"What?" Hunk and Lance look at each other. "Dude," Hunk says, "I did not even know this even when I'm friends with a hopeless romantic."

Unfortunately for Lance, he couldn't hit Hunk on the arm conspicuously enough with everyone in the room. Instead, he settles on pouting.

"I thought everyone knew that?" Pidge says, swinging his legs. "Oh, never mind."

"What do you mean, oh never mind?" Lance

"It's a recent discover that was backed by science. It should be coming out soon." Pidge frowns after he said that. The teen looks troubled for a second, before his face becomes impassive.

"Isn't that nice? Now can we move on to something else? How we eat certain foods and the like," Keith said as he picks at his fingernails.

"What is this about colors? Can you give me examples?" Allura says and she looks directly at Keith.

The Red Paladin shifts his eyes over to Shiro and the man scratches his cheek.

"Some of the meanings I kind of…forgot. It wasn't essential." Shiro slowly says and the man purses his lips as his body stands rigidly.

Fuck. No. This is getting into amnesia territory and it's horrible to see the strong pilot fold into himself. Lance clears his throat, successfully divagating almost everyone's attention onto him.

"I know them."

"Of course you do." Hunk says good-naturedly, and Lance huffs.

He smacks Hunk's upper arm. "Shoosh. Let the soulmate expert deal with this. Allura, you can call me the love expert," he winks at the princess and Allura grimaces. The colors are this: green, red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, white, and black. The purer the color is, the more dominant a trait within that spectrum is."

Lance explains as he gets up from the couch and paces in front of the team. "Starting with green, the color represents jealousy, going with the flow, or their dedication toward something. It's one of the most diverse colors out there, and there are other colors that are divergent as well. Red," Lance starts and lightly touches his arm, "is the color of passion, romance, or anger. Orange represents someone who is determined, happy, or distrustful toward others. Yellow shows that someone is intelligent, cautious, or empathetic. Blue represents someone's loyalty, them being super chill, or they're wise, kind of like me." Lance winks for good measure and Allura blanches. "Purple is ambition, dignity—others call it nobility—or being independent. It used to be the colors of Emperors back in the day. White is like green, it can represent someone being innocent, serious, or their sickliness. Black is…power, elegance, or simply mysterious. Black and white are the main ones that people have trouble with because depending on if you're going with the art or scientific route one could be the absence of color and the other filled with all of them. And that my friends, is the color spectrum of our soulmates. Crow I need water."

"I saw you touched your arm, is your soulmate red?" Allura asks and Lance mentally curses for the princess being so perceptive.

Before he could respond, Pidge speaks up. "Princess, most people don't ask about the color of someone's words or if they met their soulmate."

"Oh," Allura's eyes widen, "I am sorry Lance. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No no no, it's cool." Lance waves his hands, trying to make Allura feel better. "But you kind of hit it on the head, my words are red and he's a passionate idiot."

"So you already met him. Why didn't you tell me?" Pidge whines, "I could have made fun of him."

"First of all, it was pretty recent when I met him in the Garrison." Sort of a lie. First year, a couple weeks into the semester. "Then we left, so I couldn't talk to him much. From what I've seen he's headstrong, willing to tackle any problems, and always seems to conquer his goals," Lance smiles wistfully as he imagines a younger Keith defeating cadets or acing a test. He sees Hunk grin, and he shut down his memory. "He was obnoxious though, and did I mention an idiot? Like seriously the guy is dense, doesn't notice the attention he got from everyone. Wait a minute, why do you care about soulmates anyway? He's nothing and you're always so Mr. Defensive about this kind of thing? You got some kind of secret?" Lance teases, attempting to draw the attention off of him.

He goes as far to sit back next to Hunk, and tries to sink into the couch. He mentally pleads for the couch to suck him in, or that he can flee to hide in Blue for two hours.

"You two stop. Lance, I'm happy you found your soulmate, and Pidge, some people aren't that comfortable talking about them." Shiro says, the voice of reason in the group, second to Hunk.

"It just seems like he would be someone open about it." Pidge shrugs and Lance's lip twitches downward before going into a smirk.

"What color are your words," he slyly asks, leaning over Hunk, getting close to Keith and Allura as he tries to get in Pidge's face.

Keith pushes him backwards and he sputters to the teen to leave him alone.

"You're in my space," Keith lowly gives his reason.

Lance was about to make a comment that they're in everyone's space when Pidge said, "Well I don't think you should know. It's not like it's a special thing."

"Oh come on! Allura Coran, don't you want to hear what colors we have. I mean, it's not like we are saying words or anything." He pleads, trying to get the others to join in. He adds, "It is part of the paladin bonding experience."

Lance has to use every trick in his arsenal to get everyone to spill the beans. He leans back to Hunk, trying not to be pushed back and almost falling on the floor again.

Coran gets in Pidge's face and gives him his puppy dog eyes look like he did previously with Shiro. Pidge's eyebrows raise up, he's upset before moving back into the couch to get into the couch. "Fine fine! Just get away from my face," Pidge grumbles as Coran follows his request. The brunet coughs, "So the color of my words is an indigo like color. I say the person is a mixture between a dark blue and purple."

"Mine was…a dark color." Shiro finally says. His eyebrows furrow, "I think it was a dark orange color, like amber."

Hunk rolls up his sleeve, and Lance's eyes widen. He knew that Hunk's yellow orange color, both colors are so light that it seemed to be seamless. His markings were in a different language the last time he saw them, and now he can recognizes the words.

'Holy crow Hunk's soulmate is an alien! I knew that pin prick was something!' Lance thinks before giving his friend a secret grin.

"Mine is like a light amber." Hunk said.

Everyone turns to Keith, the teen is gripping his right arm. The teen mutters, "Magenta. Though it change."

The paladins grew interested, and look at Keith, their eyes are imploring him to divulge the information about him meeting his soulmate. Coran is smugly grinning and Allura has an angelic grin that Lance couldn't help but stare at her than his rival.

"Actually Keith here happens to be Allura's bondmate." Coran says as he claps his hands.

"What?!" Everyone shouts. Lance puts his hand on Hunk's thigh, and leans close. Hunk does the same, but he goes past the imaginary line of Keith's personal space, where the teen holds his hand in front of him, pushing Hunk away. Shiro stopped stretching, and Pidge's glasses slides down his nose.

"You," Lance points his finger at Allura, "and him" he points to Keith, "are actually? What? How? When? Where? Why?"

"Remember when Keith stayed behind. Well we talked about being bondmates." Allura says, the woman chuckles awkwardly and the mice are squeaking on her shoulders.

The four mice imitate fighters, as if defending Allura if anyone questioned her statement. The scene would have been amusing if Lance wasn't currently in shock. He feels like he would fall down if he wasn't already sitting.

Allura. The most perfect girl, no woman, in the entire universe, is bondmates with Keith. Keith, his rival and unfortunate one-sided soulmate, has Allura as his soulmate. The only good thing that came from this is that there is not going to be any romantic relationship between the two of them. He still has a chance for Allura, and if he thinks about it, this is a good thing. Like Allura is the head honcho here, their commander while Shiro is their leader. Since her bond with Keith is platonic, it means that she's going to help him, possibly in the fighting department or strategizing. That would make Keith a well-rounded fighter—a better one—that widens the gap between them.

Still, it doesn't help that he feels sore about this even when he rationalized this whole thing. He feels his connection with Blue ease the soreness in his chest. He takes a deep breath before straightening up from a sudden thought, 'Wait, can they be romantic?'

"So hypothetically could you fall for your bondmate?" Lance asks and Pidge groans.

"Seriously Lance? That's what you ask? Not what her words were to him?"

"That shit is private, and we were all there technically when Allura said her words to him." Lance points at Keith, literally pointing his finger in his face, and Keith flicks his forehead. "Hey!"

"It's not a big deal. I don't understand the whole trend about being excited about your soulmate." Keith said, getting from the couch, "It's just a norm that should go out of society. It shouldn't' even be a thing to get excited about. Yes I met my soulmate, but that doesn't mean my life changed. Besides becoming Red's piolet and a Paladin of Voltron."

Lance opens his mouth, then closes it. On one hand he wants to adopt Keith's nonchalant attitude about this because he has the misfortune of being this stubborn ass's words on his arm. On the other, he always dreamed about his soulmate, helping out others in his matchmaking schemes, and tried researching with Hunk to find out what his words meant.

"Soulmates, bondmates, and whatever they are called everywhere else is important. It's the uniqueness we all have. Maybe some aliens don't think it's a big deal, that's cool. Just don't shove down your ideology onto us," Lance argues as he stands up, frowning at the raven haired male.

"I will once everyone stops shoving it down my throat. I thought in space it wouldn't matter much," Keith brissles, clenching his fists.

"Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I don't understand why you hate it so much. I mean, you have Allura for crying out loud!" Lance throws up his arms, and Shiro intervenes in between the two.

"I think you two should cool down."

"I second that notion. Come on, everyone gets a bit testy when they don't have any grub in their stomachs. Come along." Coran said and he practically got everyone on the couch on their feet. He then went to Lance and touch his arm.

Lance capitulates, knowing that if he doesn't he's going to make the situation worse than it already is. He walks behind Hunk, Pidge, and Coran. He looks back to see Allura and Shiro talking to Keith. Allura doesn't look upset, but more like she's understanding whatever they are talking in hushed whispers.

He turns back around and rolls his shoulders. It will be fine, so what if Keith managed to snag Allura as a bondmate? He could still be her boyfriend after he woos the princess. He'll be fine with Shiro helping Keith out now, it seems to him that the two are only close because of Keith's short temper. He still has a chance to become buddies with his hero.

There is one thing that Lance regrets, that the team couldn't even bond over something simple as a common thing from Earth. How could they form Voltron if not everyone has a strong bond with their Lion, or is it they have to have a strong bond between paladins?

Whatever the answer is, he knows he screwed up. He shouldn't let his emotions get the best of him, everyone knows that his feelings tend to overwhelm him if they are strong.

 **Shay is determined and empathetic from the color I gave her.**

 **Indigo for Pidge: ambitious and intelligent, leaning toward ambition though. (A girl/woman on Earth who is a fast talker, and is willing to take action. She happens to work with metal)**

 **Dark orange: distrustful, Shiro's soulmate is a bit of an oddball. Hard to trust others, but once he does, he's there for you. It's dark because his soulmate leans toward the mysterious side in the way that he is unpredictable. Mysterious in the way you don't understand what he thinks even though his actions are different (It's Matt).**

 **Allura's on Keith's arm is magenta: It's a mix of red, white, and purple. Allura is passionate for sure, everyone has seen it along with her anger in Season 2, but she is serious to most (though a goofball at times). The purple comes from her dignity that she was raised as a princess. She was molded to be a leader and I think magenta is an elegant color next to purple, so I thought it fit her, along with the social constricts.**

Wohoo! Some character development! Besides being vain, breaking the ice, and a big softie, Lance learns that he is wrong even though he's still a bit self-absorbed (he's working on it). Looks like Keith's a good influence on him.

This took longer to get up because of finals—which I still have to do—and thinking up future chapters because I was literally out of them. I'm not going to update anything after this, I have to actually study.

This chapter is a rehash to the soulmate thing, and we learn more about Altean culture with their bondmate(s). Did you see me being a total boss, and making Lance say what he likes about Keith? I would have put like actual examples, but Lance wouldn't want to remember specific instances where Keith was cool (where he admired him and then felt jealous because he wanted to be like him).

I headcannon that Katie's mom is a community psychologist, and her main interest is the interpersonal relationships between people. What better way than studying the marks? The only reason why Katie even believes in it is because of her mom bringing in scientific proof. She was working on the study, and fun fact, it takes about a year for your study to be under peer review. Going with this, Shiro would have vague recollections of this, and the article hasn't been published yet. Shiro is close to the Holt family because of Sam, but also Matt is his soulmate.

This took too long because I really didn't want to include a cliché in my opinion—the soulmate talk—but then it sort of not really became a cliché but still is if you catch my drift. Unfortunately I'm going to rely on a cliché with Hunk, I wanted him to be soulmates with Rolo. Here me out, until I rewatched episode 5 (6?) I thought he became assertive, more active, in the war. He was like that because of Shay and seeing alien slavery, and after thinking about it, Rolo wasn't the short term platonic bond. (Note: being platonic doesn't mean you have to get along. They just help you fulfill a potential you have aka character development. This could be short term or long term.) With Hunk being Rolo's soulmate I thought it would make the guy less jaded toward everyone else, but the idea is up on the table if anyone wants it. You guys got to give cred to me if you do write about it.

On another note, the texts and voice mail was originally just something Lance was going to deal with, but then my brain's like, "Give Coran some screen time to build up the relations," and "why would Lance hide this from Hunk?"


	10. Chapter 8

"Hey Keith," Lance calls out to the teen.

They finally formed Voltron after an impromptu food fight using the goo. Everyone is riding the high of forming a giant robot, this time not in the midst of battle. Which is a lot better in his opinion instead of being shot at by lasers. After forming Voltron, he finally has a chance to talk to Keith. He managed to corner the teen when he was getting out of Red, well, more like he waved at him, and pointed toward the door from the Hall of Lions. Same thing.

He might have ran after him since Keith didn't stop, trailing after everyone else. Keith snaps, "What do you want?"

The raven haired teen raises his eyebrow and he is tapping his foot.

He puts his hands up in mock surrender, and approach the temperamental teen slowly. "Look Keith, I just want to say sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have said that, so…yeah." He moves his foot behind his ankle, waiting for the ex-cadet to answer.

Keith stares at him, and he sweats. He hates it when people are just staring into your eyes, just waiting for you to flinch. "Well," Keith slowly says, "apology accepted."

Lance sighs, his nervous demeanor deflating, he managed to get the hard part of actually apologizing out of the way. He glances at Keith, waiting expectedly for him to say something. His eyebrow twitches when the brunet turns on his heel ambles down the hall.

He huffs, the guy couldn't apologize, even if he did unintentionally spur him on.

'Wait Lance, you should know better. The guy is a desert reclose searching magical energy for almost a year. Might as well prompt him to say it, or give him a reason to why he snapped." Lance's logical side—that sounds suspiciously like his mamí's voice—points out.

Lance jogs up to Keith—for such a short guy, he's fast—who is not that far behind Pidge and Hunk. Everyone is heading toward the command deck, but he hopes to get something out of the teen before they are around everyone.

"But no, seriously. I know that this stuff is touchy and like, most people don't talk about it face to face, but all social constraints few out of the metaphorical window. Like we're in space and not on Earth-so yeah." Lance rambles as he tries out his half-baked plan.

His mind immediately supplies that if there was a literal window open in space, everyone on the ship would be doomed without their Paladin uniform. Dying out in space from the lack of oxygen is not something he would like to experience.

"Yeah. I got it. I just don't like talking about it." Keith replies as he continues on his single minded path to the command deck.

"Why? I mean you don't have to say, but I feel you. I don't like talking about it either."

"Then why are you talking about it?"

Lance rakes his fingers through his hair, "I feel like I still got to make it up to you. I know I'm an ass, I love to compete, but making you mad when we aren't competing isn't a good feeling."

"Lance," Keith suddenly stops, "its okay."

"Right. Right." Lance's tone turns down cast and he looks at the wall. "Shit, I'm acting like him."

"Like who?" Keith prompts, perplexed by his teammate's varying emotions.

"A certain shithead."

He is acting like Keith in the Garrison. The guy did not realize the situation he was in if it didn't pertain to flying, schoolwork, or training. He would ignore everyone else unless someone mentions him constantly or during the rare moments of his head out of his ass.

He should have listened instead of trying to draw it out. Now he feels like a fool because in Keith's reality they are already done with the situation, so he doesn't feel like divulging more information on the topic. Not to mention the guy is harder to crack than throwing a mussel at a tree in hopes of eating its delicious flesh.

Great. Now he's hungry for some mussel.

"You're weird."

Lance dramatically scoffs, "I prefer the word special."

"You're something alright," Keith replies, and he spots a small smirk from the shorter teen.

Lance lightly punched Keith's arm, biting down on calling him something else, figuring the teen never had friends who are casual with their affections toward him. Or that he sees them put an arm over his shoulder instead of flipping him because Keith didn't see him punch his shoulder.

"Dude what the quiznack?" Lance bemoans from the floor as he sits up. "It was just a friendly little punch. This so doesn't count for you one upping me in our rivalry."

Keith steps back and offers his hand. Lance takes the offered appendage as Keith pulls him up. "I'm sorry I didn't see you. It was an instant reaction. I'm not used to people touching me."

'At least he apologized for something.' Lance says as he dusts his paladin uniform.

"You are going to have a hard time dealing with Hunk then," Lance comments as the two of them start walking. "Maybe you can get someone to hug you until they get rid of that."

Keith scrunches up his nose in disgust from the suggestion. He shivers before saying, "That will be a nightmare. Hands always feel too heavy."

This piques Lance's interest. He buries his with, "There's a reason why Hunk is called the gentle giant and his other nickname, chef extraordinaire. Seriously, no one is going to be too rough with their affections. It means they liiiike you."

Keith rolls his eyes at Lance's antics and punches him on the arm. It was a little hard and Lance had to rub his upper arm.

"Come on you two, I swear you walk slower than my abuela and she's eighty-four!" Pidge hollers at them from the door to the command deck.

"We're coming!" Lance shouts as he picks up the pace.

He runs to where the shortest member is, and thinks about what just happened. So he couldn't get Keith to say anything about what he felt about Allura saying her words. Eventually the second shortest member of Team Voltron will say something, anything pertaining to the beautiful princess who happens to be their commander.

"Hey Pidge," Lance says as he gets next to his friend, "can you do me a solid later?"

"Depends on what it is." Pidge replies as the two of them are waiting for the other paladin.

"Can you make something to charge my phone?" Lance lowers his voice, making sure that the raven haired teen can't hear anything. "I want it alive to keep seeing Earth you know."

Pidge tilts his head, and his glasses cast a glare. "I'll work on something for that."

"You are seriously the best!" Lance picks up the brunet and hugs the living daylights out of him.

"Hey! Put me down!" Pidge squirms, "I'm not afraid to kick you again! This time on your groin! Or use my bay-"

Lance immediately drops the young adolescent to the floor, making Pidge lands on his ass. Pidge curses under his breath and Keith passes by them, snorting as he walks through the doors.

"Ow." Pidge complains and Lance offers the other his hand. Pidge doesn't take it grumbling, "I can get up myself."

"So, just some help."

"You dropped me!"

"And you wanted to kick me in my family jewels!"

"Pidge don't threaten to hurt Lance. Lance, don't pick people up unexpectedly. Now would you two please get in here," Shiro says, giving them a slightly disappointed look.

Lance immediately follows through with Shiro's kind order, not wanting to disappoint his hero.

Lance joined Hunk who is close to the door, standing straight and attentive as Allura and Coran are a few paces ahead of them. Pidge, Keith, and Shiro lined up beside them as well—Shiro in the middle with Keith and Pidge to his left—and as Allura briefs them about their ability to form Voltron—he's noticed it's getting easier every time, their minds and hearts syncing together—he glances at Shiro.

Specifically his eyes, well his lashes. They are just so long, thick, and dark. None of his pictures he's seen of Shiro on Earth even managed to capture the image of those marvelous lashes. It's like he had mascara on and also eyeliner of a wing. It's amazing that there isn't any clumping of his eyelashes whenever they are like that. He needs to know the secret of his, because damn he does not like waking up to his eyelashes clumped together like they have been for the past couple of days.

Hunk clears his throat beside him, and he immediately shifts his attention back to the princess. He can't help but look at her hair. Nothing is out of place, part of her hair is tied back, like a braided crown. The rest of her hair isn't frizzy, and he can't help but feel a bit envious, only because he wished he had her hair. Not that length or color, just to have her ability of his hair not to be displaced or frizzy. His hair always gets windblown when he's outside on Arus. Even when Allura is outside and her hair is still perfect. It's weird, but he chalks it up to it being an Altean thing. Allura's hair is prefect and Coran's mustache is out of his world. His eyes look at the hair above Coran's upper lip, and he squints at it.

"—st of the main functions of the Castle are running, the weaponry systems are up and running, but the others will take some time. It will take—" Lance pays attention to Coran a few seconds as he watches his mustache move.

Again, not a hair out of place and Lance wishes he was just like them. It would be so cool. He imagines being in a storm, sort of like a tornado where he survives with the wind attacking him, but he ends up without any cuts marring his skin. Allura would be there fawning over his greatness. His hair will have a slight curl, just like when he gets out of the shower. The princess would fall into his arms—unlikely because he knows that the past few days Allura is made of sturdier stuff—Coran will give him a thumbs up, and Shiro would clasp his shoulder like all of his fantasies, telling he did great. Hunk would be there as well, already dressed in a white tux being the wedding planner and the best man, Pidge would have twigs in his hair and his glasses askew, and Keith would have his mullet messed up while he's angsting about the loss of his thick locks. The hair cut would have to be jaggy because it was from some shrapnel that came from the tornado, but other than that he's okay. Off in the back there is his mamí and papí's home along with all of his tías' and tíos' homes as well. There is the scent of shrimp empanadas and arroz concleche, his favorites from his tía and his own home. He tries to look at them, there are figures in the distance, but they disappear.

Lance realizes he is grinning widely and that there is a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth. He quickly wipes it, and looks around. Looks like the briefing is over and the only one in there with him is Shiro, who is giving him a concerned look.

Uh oh. Already off to a bad start, and he didn't realize that his fantasy could make him forget about everything.

"Shiro, this is important. I understand that we need to do all of the team building exercises," at this Shiro nods, but he is guarded, "but this one thing has been bugging me."

"What exactly is it Lance? Another fight with Keith?" Shiro suggests and Lance shakes his head.

"No. It's friendly competition anyway. We need to have rivals."

"That will cause trouble with forming Voltron."

"We got a handle on it. I swear. Heck, we formed Voltron earlier. But the thing that's been bothering me is your eyelashes." At this Shiro raises his eyebrow. "Like they are just perfect. Heck, it looks like there is a wing, and none of your eyelashes are clumped."

Shiro gives him a blank look before giving him an angelic smile. He chuckles, "That's what was bothering you." Lance nods. "Well I'll tell you my secret."

Those magic words brought Lance closer to the older man.

"Well…" Shiro trails off, and he smirks.

He needs to know, the suspense is killing him.

"It's because…I have double eyelashes." Shiro finally reveals.

What the crow?! That's how he managed to get his eyelashes like that, so perfect and full. All because he has another row of eyelashes.

That is just…"So cool," Lance finally says, as he gets in Shiro's personal space. "Shiro, I wish I could have that, it'll be nice to know I won't have to spend time doing my lashes."

Shiro ruffles his hair with his metal hand, "Well think of it like this. No one will care if your eyelashes are split, so don't even bother doing them. At least this way you'd end up on time for another emergency drill."

The man walks off, and Lance stares in awe. He could spend time on his magnificent hair before coming down. That could earn brownie points with Allura and Shiro if he's a fraction quicker, or if he gets his routine down to a T.

"Will do Shiro," Lance hollers at the man who already reached the door. Shiro holds his hand up without even turning round.

Lance touches his hair, and treds through his chestnut locks lightly. He could still feel the imprint of Shiro's hand on his hair. His skin feels warm from where he put his hand on his head. He's grinning, and he can't help but feel excited for the next day.

He managed to get Shiro to acknowledge him, and Pidge. God Pidge, what he's going to do, if he could do it, would mean a lot to him. He rides on his high by bothering Hunk in the kitchen as they experiment with what is in the Castle cabinets. He pokes fun of Keith at the bare minimum, twice, but made sure that it was lighter than usual. Hunk was acting like his papí when he's prideful about whatever he's done. Heck, even Allura isn't brushing him off that much—maybe because he's toning it down on the flirting to mess around with his Paladins-at-arms—and Shiro mirrors Hunk in a way.

He mainly messed with Pidge during dinner, even though he's making a phone charger for him. He can't help but feel concerned about the young teen, he's been working himself ragged by throwing himself into the med bay, where the aliens they rescued are healing. The poor guy needs to lighten up a bit, even though he's trying to get some kind of information from them.

A few days pass, maybe two or three. To Lance, alien time is weird, going off in cycles that feel shorter than on Earth. Maybe it's because he's in space, and he accidently forgotten about the time on Earth. It's troubling, especially when his phone died about two days ago. He tried to make things last, tried to read the messages from his family, friends, and Hunk's parents. There was too many messages to go through. He couldn't get through all of them, and the phone died on him.

He didn't want to hound Pidge whenever they are doing a team bonding exercise—really exercises and mainly those were fighting in sync—because he wanted to know when he'd get the charger up. It would be unfair because Pidge has been concerned for days—Coran used a word once to call a day but he forgot what it was—with the recently freed prisoners. Some of them are released, but they have to make sure they are all alright. The ex-Galra prisoners have been talking to Pidge and Shiro whenever the team is finished with their training. Lance doesn't have the heart to interrupt those prisoners, and he's heard that Shiro knew some of them when he was captured during his time in the Arena.

He's been using his phone constantly, and trying to limit the amount of times he would turn it on. He was trying to make the battery last as long as it could while he was with Hunk. He gave the guy privacy to make a group chat with his own family so he wouldn't make Agathe and Eli Garret confused to know who they are talking to.

He doesn't want to cause the couple grief, everyone thought they were kidnapped; missing, from what the Garrison said when they contacted their parents. It was one of the last things he has read, which he showed promptly to Hunk, who had a minor breakdown. The two of them don't know what exactly the Garrison told their parents—what the instructors said to Pidge's parents—about their so called "disappearance" from one of the supposedly safest schools in the world.

Lance honestly hopes that Iverson gets demoted or gets put on referral. The man deserves it from the way he's treated him for about two years. The Galaxy Garrison is supposed to be home to promising young minds for aerospace travel, or just airplane travel for those who couldn't get a job in the space program. It is not supposed to be some kind of weird military school full of fifteen to nineteen year olds who are receiving specialized training in hopes of helping out mankind because climate change is a thing that humanity just started working on when there should have been laws put into place at least half a millennia ago.

He feels Blue send him warmth through their link, and he feels it in waves. His agitated soul is cooled from the tranquility of Blue's thoughtfulness whenever he manages to get himself in a mood. He sends her his thanks in the form of happiness. He feels Blue purr in content in the back of his head. It's one of the few things he has been working on the past few days on Arus, trying to commune with Blue. He finally managed to learn how to do that after pouring his emotions on her control panel whenever the two finished with their training.

Lance would have to make an excuse to Hunk—like right now—that he wants to stick around Blue a little longer. Admire her beauty from the outside whenever they aren't training. He would go to Hunk or Coran afterward, bothering both of them either in the kitchen, Hunk finding himself in one of the Castle hauls filled with parts, or at the command deck where Coran usually is when he's running diagnosis checks.

Right now Lance is right outside Blue in her hanger sharing anything he can with her. It's to test their new bond link, to see how far it goes. He knows that he can feel her on the other side of the Castle, but he can't really communicate too well with her just yet. Sometimes he thinks the only reason why she has an edge on him is because she's a semi-sentient feline who has a few years ahead of him. He swears she doesn't look a day over twenty, he even sends a reference to her. Lance feels the mirth Blue sends over to him.

He's right outside the door to the hanger when he's communing with Blue when he hears a set of footsteps behind him and the occasional beeping. He turns around to see Pidge and Rover making their way toward him, and instantly Lance is intrigued about Pidge being down here. Usually Hunk comes down here or Coran. What he notices is that Pidge isn't in his uniform, he's in his regular clothes.

Lance spots a familiar phone in the brunet's hand and instantly he walks toward him. He cannot believe that Pidge finished it up. He even gave him his phone when it died on him so that Pidge could get the right shape to make the charger.

Pidge stops in front of him to greet him. "Hey Lance, still haven't change out yet?"

"Nope, I was sticking around to admire beautiful here," he turns around to wink at Blue, and he sees an image of him laughing. One where he was in his plot seat either today or yesterday when he was doing an obstacle course against Keith.

"Really? I would have expected you to be in your…threads." Pidge shakes his head at the usage of the word. "Anyway I'm here to return something back to you. I had to recalibrate a modicum of wiring for this to work. The charger is half based off of solar energy from the nearest star and a sliver of spare crystal I got from Coran. This is the same thing I use to charge my laptop, crystal is smaller though, but I had to make sure that the battery wouldn't explode." Pidge explains after he hands him his phone and the new charger. "I have to say Lance, why did you want this charger?"

"There's some music that I want to listen to, too remind me of home. I also want to read some messages that my family sends me." Lance admits and waits for Pidge's reaction.

Didn't he answer that question before? Maybe the teen is asking the same thing because his phone died off too early from whatever response he gave him.

Pidge's eyes widen and is mouth forms a small o. Rover was behind Pidge before bumping into the young teen, comforting him. Pidge touches the robot and finally says, "You can talk to them?"

"Not really, or I haven't checked. Mostly messaging because of the data plan. If you remember anyone's number you can contact them." Lance places his hand on Pidge's shoulder, sympathizing with the shorter brunet's poignant attitude.

"It's just that…I forgot." Pidge looks away and moves from Lance's hold.

"Well once my phone's charged I can see if someone can ask the Garrison to release your personal information. That way you can at least talk to your mom or dad." Once Lance said those words he wishes that he could take them back.

Pidge seems to withdraw into himself, but also become determined, if that makes any sense to him. The teen shakes his head. "No, I have more important matters to deal with. Now come on, Allura's calling us."

He catches the cue to change topics so he does. He waves to Blue before catching up to the small teen.

"She won't mind that I take a small detour right?" He says when he looks at his paladin uniform and then to Pidge's casual clothes.

"Maybe. She wants us in the common deck." He replies and Lance nods.

"Right. Be there in a few." He runs ahead of the teen.

"Hey she wanted me to get you their quick!" Pidge yells at him after he ran by him, and Rover beeps rapidly.

"Well make sure to walk slow so I can change!" He hollers at the teen, he's already own the hall and he's heading to his room to change.

"Goddamn it Lance!"

He laughs. He clutches the portable charger and his phone tighter. He can't help but mentally thank Pidge for helping him reestablish his link with Earth once again. He'll definitely shoot his mamí a text to see if she could coerce the Garrison to give him Pidge's family's contact information. Before doing that he needs to see what everyone wrote because there is no doubt in his mind that they are concerned about him and Hunk.

A/N: WARNING: INFO DUMP AHEAD! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

This takes place right before they meet the Arusians, which is going to happen next chapter if anyone's wondering. It might take a while because I have this other fic I'm working on and I'm trying to plow through writer's block to do it and send it to a beta because I do not trust myself with that thing.

I speculate that Lance's skin care regiment in canon is how he keeps himself grounded in space. Hunk he cooks, it reminds him of cooking with his family and usually food brings happiness to people. Pidge, she's throwing herself into her search for her brother and father, basically becoming a workaholic so she won't deal with her problem of maybe Matt and Sam are not alive (Matt's alive, not sure about Sam. I'm the type of person where I need to see the body for the death to happen). She's also like this because she doesn't want to even think about her mom. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Holt knows that Katie took on Pidge Gunderson as her alias. Keith is 100% on board Voltron because he barely contacts his dad who's a archeologist (btw the shack is a summer home even though it's hot in Arizona). Shiro is going down Katie's route where he's aiming to be the best, while also trying to recover his Earth memories and time in the Arena (although he's hesitant about that because when you're memory is repressed there is a good reason for it).

Allura has Alfor's memories for the time being to cope with the loss of Altea. Coran has some photos of his family and some videos of everyone before the war; he definitely shares with Allura in the dead of night those pictures and recordings. Allura has some photo albums of Alfor and her mother which she'll also share with Coran. The two will definitely not touch the old album of the Paladins of Old, where they have to deal with sadness of seeing their friends dying and it cements the idea that Zarkon, a brother at arms who was once the leader of Voltron, betrayed by their close friend. The very person who managed to have Galra help him attack the very planet they were allied with, possible genocide of other alien species, enslavement of races, either making the Galra more militaristic or he rewrote the social norms during his 10000 year reign (we haven'ts seen regular Galra who weren't in some shape influenced by the military, maybe Sal wasn't involved but *shrug), and the Arena where everyone fights to the death. Using 'insignificant' aliens to battle against one another for the amusement of the commanding officers, and also for some Galras dissenters to keep in mind who they are actually dealing with because it's one thing to not like what your Empire is doing, but still be a part of it compared to being on the other side of the proverbial fence.

I've decided to make the text messages from Lance's family into the next installation when I put this under in a series for AO3. For I'll write out literally that with the Marked Petals: Text Edition or something along the lines because I don't want to take the main focus off this story when I write it down (totally not because it'll take forever and all. Pht whatever gave you that idea? Haha). Seriously though, this is there when I make a vague reference to it when Lance read's the messages because some of them would be phrases in Spanish, the whole text would be Spanish, or some in plain English. I'll be using an online Spanish dictionary because I don't know Spanish at all besides some simple phrases. I'll look on for a beta who could work with me with this. (This will happen once I actually start writing it out after forming a simple character sheet of Lance's family, along with Hunk's family and a couple other characters.) I will be placing where the text messages came from in the chapter area so readers can have an idea to what Lance read/was sent to him during those parts.

This will be a 3 part series, well really two companion pieces and one main fic. Lance's POV, the messages, and also things I want to set up for season three but they are going to be revolving around Hunk. I want to have some things set up for my version of season three before the official one is released later this year. I have a backstory in mind with Hunk that I want to flesh out for a future confrontation in Marked Petals. It'll be used as a reference for anyone wanting to know about how Hunk manages to get in a certain situation.


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 **Takes place a little before episode 6 aka right after they beat that Gladiator RoboBeast (term isn't coined yet, so it'll be a robot).**

 **Terms:**

metranobs = meters

clargnop = a ruder form of dumbass

culinef = a chef that specializes in insect and fruits

Besides the whole sacrificial fire incident, Lance can't help but think these aliens, Arusians, are just cute. They barely come up to his knee and they seem to be some kind of advance snail like creatures with shells on their heads.

The team went back to the Arusian village after they defeated the robot.

'Stupid orb, hitting Voltron's face. At least Shiro remembered how to defeat that thing.' Lance thinks before drawing his attention back onto the shelled aliens.

"You guys are just adorable," he says as he crouches down to shake one of the Arusian's hands.

The alien has a black shell on her—his?—head with light colored horizontal stripes on her—his—back like everyone else. He thinks the alien is female with the coral like clothing she—he—is wearing, but he isn't certain. The alien smiles at him, and asks him in a high pitched voice, "That means fearsome warrior from your planet Lion Guardian, correct?"

"Yeah."

Hunk gives him the Look, one where it appears that he's patronizing others. He gets up to his buddy and whispers, "What? It's true."

"They are cuddly," Hunk admits, "but you shouldn't lie to them."

Technically he isn't lying. Blue was found on Earth, and his gorgeous Lion is the best one there is. He can hear Blue purr in affirmation in the back of his mind. He makes note to complement his buddy more often, maybe polish her up as he verbally praises her as soon as possible.

"Oh come on, just look at them." Lance scoops up a small Arusian who makes a sound of surprise. "You going to be a warrior when you grow up?"

The Arusian in his arms is shorter than the others, "No. I want to be a culinef! Why did you pick me up?"

"Question, what's a culinef? And I picked you up because," Lance struggle to find a reason. He can't say playing around because already everyone is hugging these guys. "I want to congratulate you on whatever you want to do."

"The Yellow Lion Guardian is not asking what we do when we are big." The Arusian boy states, and Lance looks to see Hunk picking up a few and throwing them in the air.

"Sometimes we do this to have fun with friends." The Arusian nods like he spoke words of wisdom. The alien smiles, and is pleased that they are friends.

'They are so cute,' He thinks because just the simple joy of being friends with someone is truly a precious thing.

Lance sets the Arusian down and looks around to see the rest of the team. Keith is being hugged by five Arusian adults, Pidge is crouching down curious about the aliens but is reserved more so than usual, Shiro is sitting down to be eye-level with a group of toddler height aliens chatting with him, Allura is with the chieftain brokering some kind of deal, and Coran is adamantly describing something away from the main group. Coran is moving his arms around, as if he's acting out a story, and he recognizes the movements. It is something from one of his misadventures as a Altean pioneer, exploring new asteroid belts across the galaxies as he learns about new alien species—along with gambling with a few—along the way. He wonders what tale he's reciting to the children and adults.

Curiosity piqued, Lance moves to the crowd of Arusians and sits down. Immediately, a portion of the children go up to him and sit on him. He doesn't mind someone climbing on his shoulders-two someones now-and an alien sitting on him.

As he gets comfortable, the teen starts to listen to the Altean.

"So there I was, surrounded by a dozen of Maolians, they are ten limb dark brown aliens who spit out corrosive acid from their long noses. Apparently they do not like when you take a few of their fruits, helinaors, that are these delectable purple fruits. They are the sweetest thing in the Virgo Stellar Stream galaxy that are like miniature giant power crystals." Coran crouches down and crawls on the ground, "I decided to do the ancient prowl of Alteans. We get inside the earth when we do this," all of the sudden Coran slips into the ground with a bright of blue.

Lance gasps as he leans over and the Arusian kids closest to the front pat the ground where Coran was there a second prior. The children shriek out, "Where is he?!"

"Stomp on the ground!"

"The land god needs his servitude!"

"No you clargnop, he just said that he could do that!"

"I'm not a clargnop! You're a clargnop!"

"I want the soothsayer!"

"No I want the soothsayer!"

"Just stop yelling!"

"What's all of this ruckus?!"

"I miss mustache man!"

"Hiyah hiyah cablamo!" Someone moves their arms and children squeal behind Lance.

The two kids on his shoulder are yelling in his ear, telling him to turn around. His ears are slightly ringing and complies. He is surprised to see Coran-looking clean as ever even though he popped out somewhere from the ground-while he is fighting invisible combatants.

'Holy shit where did he come from? I want to do that.' Lance thinks as Coran dusts his hands, as he just finished beating up the Maolins.

"I finished those ruffians off with my secret technique. I heard the cries of other Maolins from five hundred metranobs away, still distant to regular Maolin ears." Coran wiggles his pointed ears, causing the children to laugh.

"I took that as my chance to collect my well earn prize, the sweet helinaor fruits. I collect my bountiful bounty, which was like seventeen of them in my arms. I then went to my pod to go back to the Castle to show King Alfor what I acquired. Too bad it took too long and I ate four of them." Here the children laugh, and Lance cannot help but chuckle.

'Typical Coran,' Lance rolls his eyes as his chuckling dies down.

"They were so sweet, picture the sweetest pastry, but ten times sweeter." The children and adults all lick their lips. Lance cannot lie, he starts to salivate. "I had to restrain myself by tying them behind the ship so I wouldn't be tempted to eat the whole thing." Everyone laughs at his frankness.

Coran walks around the group, going back to the front. He holds his arms outstretched as if he's presenting something to someone. "When I got back to the Castle, I presented the helinaors to King Alfor, Princess Allura's father." At this, everyone chatters and glances at Allura, who is still talking to the chieftain, but there are more Arusians around her.

It's nice seeing Allura looking happy. She's usually serious at the Castle, whenever they are training, and it's nice to see her do something different. She looks more beautiful with a smile on her face, even if it's temporary. Lance wouldn't mind staring at her a little longer when he feels the child on his right tug on his ear.

"Look at the soothsayer." The child whispers.

"Alright alright." He turns to see Coran on his knee and holding his arms across his chest in a x.

"With that we used half to power the games that take place every other year, and the winner of the Biffalono riding gets the remainder of the fruit. Unfortunately I couldn't participate, everyone had to keep me from getting my hands on the fruit." Coran makes a grabbing motion to the air or toward the ground. "They would always move it away from me, which is unfair, I just want another bite or two or three."

With that Coran bows, and looks at them expectantly. Lance starts clapping, signalling to everyone to give an encore. Coran smirks, winks, and brushes his fingers through his fringe.

"That was amazing!"

"Another!"

"I l-loved it."

"Was the Lion Goddess born?!"

"What color was the fruit? Mauve? Amethyst? Tell me!"

Lance cups his hands around his mouth, "That was great Coran! Have you been holding out on me?"

"Now now settle down everyone, thank you for listening to another one of my many grand adventures. Which one did you like, the one about the moon beast or the helinaors?"

"The moon beast was a lot more romantic." The child in his lap whispers.

"But you saw a lot of cool things with the fruit." The child on Lance's left shoulder said.

"Yeah like the disappearance act!" The other child on his shoulders chimes.

"Whoa whoa whoa, if the three of you are going to argue, I need you two off my shoulders." Lance says as he grabs the one on his left and puts him to the ground, before doing the same to the one on his right. "You three play nice, all of Coran's stories are the greatest, he's been to so many places in the universe."

"Even farther than you?" The child who was on his left shoulder, who has a slightly rocky shell on her base asks.

"Yep, I recently started traveling, I've been to so many places."

It's not a full out lie, he did start, but he hasn't gone off planet besides going into a wormhole to find Yellow, and coming to Arus. Places he hasn't been before, hadn't known it even existed during the time they've been up in space, which is a little over a week.

Lance gets up before the three children start asking him about it, and he can't really say how he got to their planet, the poor guys think they are the Lion Warriors of the Lion Goddess aka Allura. He was going to go talk to Coran, just to get the beginning of the tale off of him because he seriously missed out on the backstory. Whenever Coran is telling elaborated stories, there is always something he adds in that is not part of the memory, to paint him in a better light.

"Coran, Paladins, we are leaving. We will be hosting a party for the native guests," Allura calls out to them.

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith stop messing with the group of squishy Arusians. Shiro stands up from kneeling to one of the warriors near Allura.

Lance winks at the princess as he is the first one into the pod, claiming the back seat to the corner. Of course he gets first pick because he's the closest to the pod. Hunk follows suit, then Pidge, Keith, and Shiro. Allura and Coran take the front seat, and Coran is the one flying them back to the Castle. What irks Lance is that Pidge is sitting on Hunk's lap, and he can't help that he wants to sit there too. It beats being cramped in the back of a small spaceship, and he can attest that Hunk is the best seat. Everyone-his little brother, cousins, Lou, and even Pidge-agrees with him.

What makes Hunk the greatest seat is that he tends to hug the people in his lap, or on the off chance that Hunk is feeling malicious, the poking. With great power of putting people into ease, he can use that power to catch people off guard.

"Trade seats with you," Lance says to Pidge and the brunet male sticks out his tongue.

"No way, Hunk is the best seat."

"Yeah I know. I just want to sit on someone instead of them sitting on me." He whines as he shows the short teen his secret weapon: teary puppy eyes.

They always manage to get what he wants. Heck, they even lightened a grounding sentence when he was younger.

"Sucks to suck." Pidge retorted, crossing his arms and leans into Hunk.

"Guys, you both can share." Hunk says as he moves Pidge to sit on his right thigh and Lance sees the opportunity.

"Hey get your bony ass out! I want to treat myself here," Pidge glares as he tries to push him off. The teen is restrained by Hunk, who is holding Pidge's arms with his own.

"No way I can do that shortstack. It is Lance's time to have exclusive sitting rights on this magnificent person." Lance says as he watches Pidge struggle. "Love you buddy."

"Same."

"Love you too Pidge."

"I hate you."

"You guys are ridiculous," Keith says and Lance leans to the side to glare at the mullet haired teen.

"You have no right to complain, I saw you hugging those Arusians. Seems like everyone was having a blast there." Lance wiggles his eyebrows as he leers.

He keeps his laughter in check when he sees Keith's cheeks turn to rose. Shiro chuckles as Keith explains his reasoning, "It is the nicest thing to do, especially when securing an alliance. They were going to sacrifice themselves for us!"

"Not really, they wanted to sacrifice themselves to the Lion Goddess," Coran inputs as he lands the ship inside the Castle.

"Don't remind me, I don't want poor aliens to die because of me. Luckily we will secure that alliance after the party." Allura says as the door opens.

"Wait a party? Dude that is going to be the sickest thing ever! Space party!" Lance excitedly yells and Pidge plugs in his ears.

Shiro says as he gets out, "If only everyone was near enough to hear the announcement."

"Stop with the ancient lingo, I swear you're worse than…" Pidge starts off annoyed before trailing off, his eyes turning downcast as he moves out of Hunk's lap, following closely behind Keith.

"Pidge has something right." Hunk says and Lance scowls.

"Oh here I thought you were the bee's knees." Lance moves off Hunk's lap, out the ship, and stretches his legs.

Coran and Allura are already gone, no doubt getting things ready for the party that should happen in a few hours. It would suck if the Arusians come in within an hour and nothing is ready.

"Tell me about it, stud." Hunk replies when he steps out of the ship smiling.

Lance immediately turns around, and glomps his best friend. "I love you again."

"I know you do."

"I didn't really think you weren't the bee's knees. You still are."

"What is wrong with them?" Lance hears Keith ask, and he doesn't bother giving the hot head a retort, too overjoy that Hunk quoted one of the musicals he made him and Cicero watch.

"I think he quoted some old thing. Not sure what," Pidge faux whispers, his arms are crossed and he doesn't bother to look at the hugging pair.

"Oh."

"I can hear you!" He turns his head to shout at the two uncultured swine judging him.

Turns out they didn't have to do much work. Just clean the entrance hall of the Castle, and Shiro took care of sweeping the floor, well the entrance way. It's large enough to have the whole entire village in there, so that takes care of that. Coran enlisted Hunk and Pidge to help him do some maintenance for something that looks like a plate, but it is a hovering tray. Pretty sweet in Lance's opinion. That left him and Keith to clean the walls.

He might have made it a competition of who can get the most walls done, and technically Keith won, which made him seethe. He did get compensation though; Shiro was still sweeping and he said that he cleaned the walls better than his rival. That is one of the best compliments that he received from Shiro, and that compliment brought Keith to lower spirits. He did perk up when Shiro clamped his shoulder, and he did go back to clean the walls that he thought he finished.

The only reason why he won was a lot of experience with cleaning. There were too many horrifying times where he had to clean his Mamí's or Tías' houses, and they got on him for not cleaning everything up. The threat of the chankla-mostly in jest but sometimes it's hard to tell with his Mamí-made him actually do his work when it counts; however, nothing will change his pigsty of a room unless he is threatened or given a incentive.

It took forever to clean everything in the hall. The moment they did finish the wall, they had to wipe the side of the staircase, but it was worth it since Shiro stepped out when they finished. Lance will never admit this to anyone, even under the threat of torture, but he and Keith were actually on the same wavelength for a minute. He looked at the shorter teen and he did the same, the two nodded, before they raced up the stairs and slid down the banister.

'He really isn't that bad of a guy,' Lance thinks as he takes a sip of nunvil before spitting it out.

He's hacking as Hunk and Keith are standing around him, concerned. He should have listened to Coran. Thumping his chest, he heaves in air and glares at the offending drink.

"Never again," Lance hisses out.

"Well you do know that another Altean delicacy isn't good for humans." Hunk said in a matter of fact voice.

"Why didn't you tell me? You were in the kitchens after fixing those tray bots."

"In my defense, Coran only let me taste the food." Hunk said.

"Well is it good? Better than the slime?" Keith inquires. He points at one of the nearest trays carrying something that appears to be marshmallows on sticks.

Hunk nods. Keith hums, he goes to the nearest hover tray, and Hunk follows after him.

Lance stares at them and he was about to take a sip of his drink, his lips were at the rim, and he pulls it away from him in disgust.

When is he going to learn that most Altean food isn't the best? They may be nutritious, but he cannot even believe that Allura willingly eats the goop. 'Maybe this is good for their skin? Both of them have flawless skin and you can practically see them sparkling.' He looks around. 'I should take a picture of them when it happens. Note to self, grab phone from room. Also, take a selfie with some Arusians.'

Lance looks around, seeing so many happy people. Heck, even the two most stressed out members of Voltron-Allura and Shiro-are relaxing. Well, from the last time he saw Shiro, he was less tense, but he disappeared not even thirty minutes into the party before he became vigilant again. Those two always seem like they have the weight of the universe on their shoulders because of the Galra Empire trying to take down Voltron. A few timed jokes or comments tend to bring them out of their moods, except not in the way he hopes, happiness instead of the annoyance that he keeps getting from the princess's end. Shiro sometimes doesn't get it, but he's considerate at least.

As he is scanning the room, he notices Pidge is carrying his backpack and he is making his way to the middle of the room. He is following the hover trays and taking most of the food on them. Lance rolls his eyes and smirks, classic Pidge. He remembers during the one dance at school and frequent lunch the diminutive teen would steal food from the tables and sneak off to some corner. Staving off the event before he can sneak out because he needs to do something.

'Wonder what he's working on this time?' Lance thinks as he sees the youngest sneak around.

His lips quirk upward, he remembers that Lou would always act like that whenever she was at a party. Despite going to so many with her family or his own, she cannot deal with so many people. She would go off and do her own thing, and he cannot help but be reminded by that because of Pidge's actions.

He quickly ends that thought, he doesn't want to be reminded. Lance goes to Hunk and sees him holding a nunvil cup.

Hunk twirls his cup for aesthetic purposes, the guy rarely drinks anything, and he is not going to take a sip of it. The guy will look the part of any party, but given the slightest excuse when he's uncomfortable, he'll find Lou.

He bites the inside of his cheek. God, he misses Cicero's sister. He misses everyone, he misses the food, he misses his bed, home cooked foods, parties, and even the traffic he finds himself whenever he goes back home.

His tongue is stuck on the roof of his mouth, and Lance gulps. It takes him a moment to loosen his tongue, but the moment he does, words rush out of his mouth. "Do you ever think about Earth?"

"Yeah." Hunk sighs, "But I doubt we'll get back home. Think about it, the war has been going on for ten thousand years, and we just got here."

"Yeah, yeah you're right." Lance says dejectedly, he looks down and gives a small smile. "I think I got some nunvil in my eye, got to wash it out."

He walks away like a coward, facing the truth that he tried to turn away from. He already knew that, but he'd rather stare at the present day-to-day activities rather than thinking about the future. At least he can contact his family and friends, along with Hunk's parents.

Lance goes up the stairs in the foyer. He ignores the people around him, and doesn't attempt to make eye contact with anyone. He heads to the command deck, he'd rather be somewhere alone, and he could mess with the hologram systems after he stares at the stars.

It's funny, he already knew that space was vast, but he isn't even in the same solar system as Earth, and possibly not even the same galaxy. Distance between what he knows, what the whole human team of Voltorn knows, is unknown. Stifling. Chilling. Lonely. Abstract. The void of space, it's remarkable that there is other life, no matter how much ill intent or amiable the life is, that is between it. It's just, the life around him isn't what he's used to surrounding himself with. The only thing to ground them is their Lions, and he is ever thankful of Blue. Blue, to him is closer than a friend, closer than his boyf on a spiritual sense and Hunk. A connection the two of them have, bound by their spirit. He hopes that the others have a bond like that with their Lions.

Oh who is he kidding? Just yesterday Black and Green showed up to get Pidge and Shiro when the robot managed to touch down on Arus. Sure he hasn't done that with Blue yet, but that means that all the paladins has a strong connection from the very start. It might have come from those insane tests that Coran and Allura has put them through earlier that week.

Lance walks through the doors to the command deck and sits himself in front of Allura's station. He looks past the glass, sees just a dark sky, and he sighs. Things are similar on this planet to Earth, there are clouds, trees, and weapons similar to what humans had made thousands of years ago. He didn't spend a lot of time on studying that part of history, he was interested in the social aspects and clothing of predecessor civilizations or nations that collapsed and began anew.

Not to mention he's been thinking about his family and friends back at home. God this is worse than the Garrison, at least then he can chat a few minutes, to hear his Mamí's voice as José is doing something in the background that causes her to laugh or scold him. He just wants to talk to someone, he can't help that pictures and text messages cannot sustain him. He's been washing some stuff to them, he didn't dare tell them they just fought a robot yesterday and almost lost. He doesn't know how everyone is holding up in here. Pidge is doing his own thing, and he and Hunk hang around to hang out or look over messages. He doesn't know how Keith is not homesick, then again there was no one at the shack in Arizona. He's seen that Keith has been around Shiro a lot, so he guesses Shiro staves off the homesickness. Not to mention that Keith helps Shiro since the two do know each other from before Shiro's mission on Kerberos.

He sighs, combing his hair with his fingers as he stares out the window. He cracks a mirthless smile. 'It's funny how I can still see traces of human technology. No, not really. I guess it's evolution. We all have to start somewhere.'

Lance hears the doors open behind him, and he continues to stare at the sky. He turns his head to see the orange haired Altean walk towards him. He walks toward him, and the Altean puts his hand on his shoulder.

"What's the matter Lance?" Coran asks, and he knows the man is serious.

Rarely he would refer to him by name, and in such a serious tone.

"Do you ever think of your home?" Lance inquires Coran as the other male stands by him.

The orange haired Altean is silent. There is a pensive look in his eyes. The man fiddles with the controls, and he sees an image of a planet hologram after a few keystrokes. It is green, purple, and there are white areas on the green that slowly expanded to the purple. He assumes that the green is the land mass while the purple is the equivalent of oceans on the planet.

Coran frowns as he looks at the planet, and he moves the hologram. The man moves to a corner of one of the green masses, and he points at a small white area with blue stripes on it. "That here was my settlement that I lived in. It was brought down early in my life before the Galra attacked," Coran mournfully said. "Despite our advancements, there was some disease prevalent in settlements. Most Alteans perform a pilgrimage to the far reaches of the settlements to get in touch with nature, and feel the natural quintessence on our planet instead of the metal bodies we reside in. We familiarize ourselves with it before going to the stars."

Lance is silent. He cannot believe that a race that can practically do anything with technology. It was so advanced ten thousand years ago, and he wonders what it would have been like if Zarkon didn't destroy Altea.

"Already my home was gone, but I hate that I couldn't keep a memento. It was taken from me, just like everything else." Coran exhales as he takes a step back and just stares at the dot. He smiles, "I still have Allura and the Castle. The mice too, those mischievous little buggers." He twirls his mustache before gasping.

Lance wraps his arms around Coran, squeezing him tightly. "Hey you have us too. I mean we might not have those gorgeous ears, but us humans are definitely here for you." He doesn't know what to do with him, he hasn't comforted someone like this before.

What do you say to someone who lost a home before losing their planet?

"Aw Lance I know that," Coran puts his hand on his hair, ruffling it. "Now what do you tell me what's got you bothered from the celebration?"

"But but it's nothing!"

It is. Worrying about his family and friends back at home pales in comparison to Coran. He's the happiest guy he knows in the whole Castle, and sometimes the connection that he lost a planet as well. It's easier to equate Allura as losing her home, and not Coran from how lighthearted he acts. He cannot imagine how this man managed to keep a smile on his face despite his settlement being destroyed, and then his planet.

"If it causes you distress then it isn't nothing."

"I just miss the little things back home. The rain, garlic knots, eating watermelon after swimming in Varadero Beach." Lance blurts out. "I shouldn't, especially from what you guys experienced, and that I can still get in contact with them. It's weird, a little connection makes me miss them a lot more than I should. Is it because it's limited or…" He trails off, holding his head.

"Chin up, you're just having separation anxiety. Every pilot feels it." Coran says and claps his shoulder. Lance doesn't brighten up, and the man frowns before his eyes widen. "Ah, you mean that."

"Lance. You're feelings matter. Loss of a planet is the same as never going back. Your messaging is like recorded memories, or Alfor's A.I. in the Castle. Everything matters." Coran states and hugs the distressed teen.

Lance hangs limp in Coran's hold, his mind not computing about what happened. He is immobile for a second before wrapping his arms around Coran.

"Thank you Coran."

"No problem Lance."

They stay there for a minute before Lance slides out of Coran's hold.

"You want to meet my family? I have some pictures in my phone, I'll show you later on, after this party is over." Lance says as he looks up at the taller male.

"Righto. Come on then, let's head back down to the party, those Arusians sure are a lively bunch. Hope they didn't destroy the banisters just yet." Coran snaps back into attention.

He follows Coran to the door, but before they could reach it, Rover came through it.

'Strange,' he thought, 'Pidge never lets the little guy out of his sight.' He notices that the drone is beeping red rapidly as the drone goes to the control panel, and his eyes widen.

"Look out!" He covers Coran and he feels something burning on his back before hitting the ground.

 **A/N: Lance does have contemporary clothing for our year, so I'm going to say he just loves old stuff, when it is about the lingo or movies/musicals he manages to get his hands on. I like to believe he loves history as he is interested in what cultures did in their past time.**

 **Any thoughts about the angst? Langst part at the end is something I believe he would think, or really any character. It was progressive, he thought a lot more about people back home here than any other chapter, so you guys would know what is happening. Also, the fall of the Castle is a sad episode, despite it starting off happy the first five minutes.**

 **I picture that Alteans respect a lot of their planet which is why they have sparse settlements, and most of them travel by teleportation pad. There is some disease in a utopian like society, and settlements do fail on occasion, most are on what people consider the outskirts, where Alteans journey to get closer to the largest quantity of quintessence. As we saw from the Balmera episode, Alteans do respect planets/living beings, and I want to incorporate that into this story.**

 **The next "chapter" is not going to be in Lance's POV because the guy got himself knocked out. It came to life weeks ago when I answered a reviewer's question, and it sort of spiraled there. Fair warning, it's a cliffhanger.**

 **If anyone has any questions, or comments about this fic leave a review. I'll answer it asap on my end.**


	12. Chapter 95

Sendak grabs the right arm of the Blue Paladin, his armor torn in various places, and the upper body taking most of the damage. He is slightly disappointed that the bomb Haxus planted did not deal much damage, but the drone did its job. It brought down the power of the Castle, which was all they needed to sneak into the mostly undefended Castle. He is sure if the Blue Paladin wasn't injured that the place would be deserted as he throws the body onto the floor in the command deck. Haxus is setting up their crystal into the Castle systems that he procured from their fallen fleet.

He readies his arm when the Champion rushes at him with the prototype Haggar graciously made glowing with purple quintessence. He smirks, honestly the combatant is ignorant to the true art of combat, so what if he managed to escape from the Arena? The Galra on the ship are not even combat ready as others of Zarkon's fleet, like his own. Pure loathing courses through him as he strikes at the insolent prisoner playing the hero. The Champion falls to the floor and he grabs him.

"Can't you see that you are helpless Champion? Pathetic, weak, barely even a threat to the Galra Empire," he emphasizes each word by slamming the male into the walls. He hears the Champion grunt in pain and his lips curl in sadistic pleasure. "You joined a fallen icon meant to stop our cause, yet that fails you as you lay defeated at my feet." He drops the human to the floor.

He keeps an eye on the human and turns to his companion. Haxus is already starting up the launch, and he can already feel the promotion from Commander to General from securing all of the Voltron Lions. He will be ahead rankings from his position, and he will be a close advisor to Zarkon, even as close to the Emperor as the Witch.

Sendak spots something odd on the comatose prisoner's right arm. He grasps it in his claws and brings it closer to his face.

"Get away from him!" The Champion yells as he manages to raise himself from the floor.

"What is this." He means it as a statement, he is a Commander of the highest caliber, higher than others in his same rank in this quadrant.

He notices the human snarling when he picks the Blue Paladin up by grasping his arm with his non-prosthetic arm. He drags his claw underneath the string of symbols on the arm, and he is displeased that he cannot hear the pained sounds from his prey. He allows himself to be satisfied by seeing how frail and thin Blue is compared to the Champion. Are all humans this pathetic? Blue and the other Paladins are dirt compared to the Champion, who are like those disgusting insects that were as tall as his knees.

He was happy that day when he slaughtered the tribes of the Pekobians. Nasty creatures who are not worthy of durable shells that was hard to penetrate with their guns. He had fun gutting their soft undersides lining in between the shells.

"They are our soulmarks." The Champion gasps as he shifts his feet to balance himself.

His hand is already glowing and he cannot help but feel amused at such a simple word.

He drops Blue, "Tell me what exactly does it mean? It sounds foolish."

Soulmark. What garbage, marring the fur of a superior race. It sounds like an identifier, with the mark root in the word. It's nothing like the nobility of a soulbond that a Galra feels to their equal who will be beside them as their partner. An inferior race broadcasting what the universe has bestowed upon them means the race has drawn the short plasma sword from the armory.

"It shows us the first words we hear from our soulmate." The Champion retorts as he runs toward him.

'Just as I thought.' Sendak extends his arm, quintessence stretching as his metal prosthetic claws are reaching toward his target.

He hears Haxus saying he's ready to take off.

"What a useless thing to have," Sendak taunts as his claws form a fist.

"They are not useless! They," The Champion dodges his fist as he moves to the right, "are words of hope everyone feels once you hear them." The Champion weaves around his arm and gets close enough to strike him. "They are a reminder that we are not alone! That we can get through our darkest days!" The Champion manages to strike him on his shoulder where his prosthetic is docked onto his body.

The Castle got off the ground for a tick before it crashes back down. He crashes onto the floor, and the Champion manages to loosen the dock before he threw the human away. He gets up and turns to his officer, who is cursing as the panel is smoking.

"Get that insolent whelp Haxus!" Sendak orders, indignantly spitting at the Galra to halt the Green Paladin from causing more trouble for him and the robots.

While Haxus deals with the stray cub, he'll deal with the one here.

"Champion, when I am done with you, you will wish you were back in the Arena."

 **A/N: Posting this even I'm not even halfway done with the actual chapter. Might need to have a friend look over Chapter 10 because I'm branching out two different beginnings. She'll choose which one actually is good.**

 **Some background info on Keith's side and explanation of how Galra finds their soulmates:**

The shack in Arizona is where Keith's dad, Elek, met his mom, and they don't visit it that much because she left. She was Keith's dad's soulmate, but she doesn't have words. Galra's vision suddenly flash to intense shade of grey when they meet their soulmate, the only color left is around their soulbond, and it recedes quicker when they are around them. Soulbond is what Galra call their SO. It's completely romantic.


	13. Chapter 10

Lance wakes up to feel something soft, but there is something loose and grainy. He sits up, notices the sunglasses on his face, making everything appear darker as he sees the familiar white sandy beach from his childhood. He lifts up his sunglasses to view the beach in it's entire glory. Just seeing the waves ebb to and fro on the beach, it's nostalgic. He's sleeping under the shade of his umbrella, lying on a pillow and towel, his usual regimen after swimming for an hour. He would coat himself in sunscreen during that time. What's funny is that he's in his regular clothes, sans his jacket, and he stretches. God his body is aching in strange places; how did he manage to sleep wrong on this wonderful beach?

To be honest, Lance is amazed that his brother, Lou, or anyone else didn't wake him up from his impromptu nap. He walks around and realizes that he owns a little section of the beach, and for that he's grateful for. Maybe it's because he's out there where the sun is, but there isn't that many kids running around like the other side of him. Occasionally a kid would run by the water, cutting through his part, but other than that he's alone. He notices a girl in a familiar orange two piece swimsuit-Lou got that two summers ago-and he waves at her.

The energetic brunette does the same before heading into the water, and already he can feel the sun beating down on him, and he wipes his forehead.

"Sometimes I forget how hot it is here," he says to himself as he takes off his shirt. "What was I thinking coming here fully clothed?"

The sun beats down on him, and Lance is getting worried once he spots a heatwave. He gulps and looks around behind him until he finds what he's looking for. The Snack Shack, best place to get garlic knots, nachos, shaved ice, and lemonade. They have other stuff, but god he needs something cool down his throat. His stomach growls, 'And some grub.' Lance snorts as he walks to the Shack.

He doesn't realize that he isn't wearing any shoes, and the sand is so hot. He runs across the small dunes and onto the small strip of grass that the Shack is on, after traversing across the scalding sidewalk. His poor feet have been abused on his trek to cool off, and he doesn't know if it's worth it or not. Lance sees the employee in the Snack Shack is Pauline, and she turns to smile at him. 'Definitely worth it.' He thinks as he starts to turn up the McClain charm.

He winks, "What can I do to get something refreshing, something to fill my stomach, and superb company?"

Pauline looks at him and she gives him a small smile. "Maybe when I'm finished with my shift."

'Holy crow, she actually accepted.' He thinks and he smiles. He has tried flirting with her ever since he was thirteen years old, and after years of being rejected, he finally has some sort of positive response.

He would punch the air in victory, but that would make him seem like a dork. He doesn't want to undo any progress he made with the gorgeous woman. Instead, he just leans over the Snack Shack and smirks. Pauline hands him a lemonade and a garlic knot, years of coming here has made her remember his order, and flashes him a smile.

He hands over the money, not bothering to read the price on the billboard above the counter. He takes his food and points to a tree a little ways away from the establishment. "When you're done, meet me over there." He winks for good measure as he takes his things, and he carefully walks on the thin strip of grass to the tree.

He sits down and watches everyone. From the time he spent walking to the Shack, talking to Pauline, and getting his food, people got to his spot of the beach. Oh well, he is not going back on there in his bare feet, the trek was horrendous for his abused heels. He wishes he has the intolerance to pain like he was as a child, he would traverse everywhere without shoes on that everyone would get on his case.

He'd rather not remember those times. It was a part of his youth that he was unaware of the finer things in life: stranger's expectations of you.

It was a dark time until that finer thing turned into a grand thing: care about your friends.

He takes a bite out of his garlic knot as he watches the people sun tanning, burying people in the sand, swimming, surfboarding, some people having sand poured down their swimsuits, and people making sand castles. There are people screaming, well one male voice, and it sounds painful.

'Probably got bits of rock in his trunk,' Lance thinks as he takes a sip of his drink. He relaxes in the shade and close his eyes.

"Lance!"

"Lance!"

"Lance!"

"Boyf!"

"Lance!"

He hears people calling his name from behind him. He opens his eyes and looks behind him. It's his family, his whole entire family, including those from Canada and America. They are all wearing a party hats and some fireworks.

Oh, he gets up and runs to them. Leaving his purchased food and drink behind. The firework show after going to any beach or swimming. As he gets closer to them, he can smell something delicious. His favorite foods shrimp empanadas and arroz concleche that are made on special occasions or upon request.

He jogs over to them and he recognizes Hunk's large build as he runs to his family. He even spots Cicero and Lou; the preteen happens to have dry hair despite playing in the ocean a while ago. He thinks nothing of it when he runs up to José, hugging his little brother tight. He misses him since his time at Varadero Beach, and it's weird to him. He's been home for the summer after coming back from his second year at the Garrison.

Everything's great back in school. He finally managed to get into the fighter class, and two instructors from the Romanian branch transferred to the one in Arizona. He thinks that Instructor Allura, who took over Iverson's position for flight simulation classes for the older students, is the best thing ever happened to him in the Garrison. He'd rather not deal with Iverson anymore, and he is only instructing students on flight theory now. He no longer torments him for two classes, instead it's only one, and he isn't constantly humiliated when he and his team make a simple mistake. Allura takes the time to say what he, Hunk, and Pidge went wrong and they can focus on it the next time they can get into the flight simulation. The other Romanian instructor, Coran, from what he seen, deals with maintenance for the engineers. He only managed to catch a glimpse of him fiddling with some device when he walks to Hunk's class to pick him up.

Life was great during the year, he didn't have Iverson breathing down his neck for two classes, instead that time is halved. He has an uneasy friendship with Instructor Allura, possibly due to his one too many flirtations with her, but he digresses. She is an attractive young woman, but she is also an ace pilot who managed to get into the Garrison at young age. He admires her, and he heard stories about the feats she did in the Romanian branch, how she stopped a man from stealing blueprints for a new plane with the help of Coran. Being able to be near her, taught by her, was an experience. It made his time at the Garrison enjoyable, even though he had a few rocky patches when he had to deal with Keith.

He was difficult per usual, absorbed in himself and only rarely he'll talk to other students. He did manage to get him to acknowledge him during their flight simulation class, managing a corkscrew to impress the gorgeous woman in the beginning, but it also showed off his skills in class. Keith did grudgingly acknowledged him, especially when he used a maneuver that isn't being tested for a rescue mission across the asteroid belt. Keith even gave him tips to improve on a few of his turns, like having to allocate on the trajectory speed of the ship before attempting to turn. They became sort of friends, ribbing on one another, although it was mostly Keith doing it during flight class, but he managed to top him in English.

The memory fades as he greets his whole family and friends. Heck, he even sees that Allura and Coran are there, taking up his invitation to come to Cuba to hit the waves. He wonders if Allura surfs, he would love to ride with her on the waves.

He sees them sitting at a long table, and there are cards out. There are empty seats and he goes to the nearest one. Keith, Hunk, Cicero, Melony, Pidge, and Shiro sit down with them.

He didn't even see Pidge at the party, then again, the guy is so short. Was probably hiding in a corner for a while before escaping to gamble with them. He swears the kid counts the cards during poker, no one should have his luck whenever they are playing a card game.

Lance stares at Shiro, trying to remember how his hero came to Cuba.

"Oh Shiro," Coran says as he noticed him staring at the older male, "is here because I invited him. A dear friend of mine if I do say so myself. Hope you don't mind."

Shiro is sitting across from him and Lance grips it. "Nice to meet you Lance, you have a wonderful party here." The black haired man gives him a serene smile, and he melts a little.

"Thank you." He slips his hand out of Shiro's hold and he tries not to grin too wide. He's been told that his big smiles makes him look like a idiot.

He doesn't want Shiro to have a bad impression of him.

Cicero starts dealing the cards out, "You guys okay with Egyptian Ratscrew? Won't be enough cards if we played poker."

"Sure," Pidge said and he raises his glasses, causing them to glint.

Cicero starts dealing the cards and just as Lance threw his card in the middle he realized something. Cicero hates Egyptian Ratscrew with a passion, saying that it can damage his gifted hands, not allowing him to play the music that he loves. He wouldn't willingly play the game unless he is coerced into it by some kind of incentive, be it blackmail or buying him a card to listen to music.

Lance glares at his friend as everyone literally slapped their hands into the middle of the table, Pidge having to stand up to even try to get near since he's at the end. Cicero's hand is in the middle, and everyone has been rough.

He suspiciously scrutinizes everyone and realizes that Hunk is wearing a orange shirt, not his usual yellow.

"What the hell?" He says under his breath, and people are skipping over him, not even bothering to wait for the birthday boy to put down his cards.

He knows that Hunk is attached to that yellow shirt, his dad got it for him when they went to Hawaii a few summers ago. His grandmother gave it to him, it was her favorite color that he also loved. He rarely wears something that isn't yellow; he wants to honor her memory, as the yellow shirt represented how kind his grandmother was, and how much he loved her.

He puts his cards down because his friends are all ignoring him on his special day before he gasps. His arm, the words aren't red, they are violet with the black outline.

"No no no no," He says as he stands up. "This isn't real."

He knows what the words are, red. He should have recognized that things were off. One his neighborhood isn't anywhere close to Varadero Beach. Two, Julia already quit her part time job in the Snack Shack. Three, he couldn't have smelled anything outside from such a distance. They aren't grilling, and he isn't in his house to guess what was made. Four, Allura and Coran are not human. Five, why would he invite Garrison Keith? He didn't even like the guy there, and now, now…

Shit. The explosion. Is Coran alive? Is he alive? Yes, he's dreaming. Why else would he be able to see his whole family and friends?

"Come on, come on wake up," Lance chants as he clenches his fists.

The make believe world is still from his realization, but he can hear shouts and another explosion.

He pinches himself, praying that the hackney is actually true.

He wakes up with a jolt and his hand hovers over his thigh, bringing out his bayard, and aims to the blurry purple figure. There's something big protruding out of it's arm, and he shoots. He misses the mark, but he does hit the Galra's back. Good enough for him.

Everything spins and he is knocked back. He winces, clenching his eyelids tight.

'Quiznak this hurts,' Lance thinks as his head is pounding, and his body collapses onto the object keeping him upright..

It's like his muscles over extended themselves and everything just burns. Hell, moving his arms to aim was too much. He's glad he did, managing to do something to help take out the Galra in front of him. Fuck, it hurts to even breathe now. He wishes he stayed in his dream, the real world is too painful to deal with right now.

He focuses on his ragged breathing, trying not to blackout. He's blocking out the sounds of fighting, he needs to remain focus on his raspy gasps.

Something touches his hand, and hauls him up. Lance barely moves his head, and he opens his eyes.

Everything is blurry, but he recognizes Hunk anywhere, even though his vision is spotty.

"Tell him...I don't hate him," Lance manages to say.

"Everything's going to be alright," Not-Hunk says and he would jolt if he wasn't in excruciating pain.

Fuck. Keith.

He tries not to snort. "We make...a good team."

He closes his eyes, everything is starting to get too bright and unfocused.

In. out. In. out. In. out. In…

Lance welcomes the unconsciousness, no longer having to deal with the pain.

...

…

..?

There is something beeping. Something opens, and his eyes flutter open. Lance takes a step, notices he's wearing a white long sleeved shirt, and takes a step out of whatever is confining him in a small space.

'The light is bright,' he notes as he blinks a few times to see that he is in the med bay. He sees that everyone is huddling together and two people-Coran and Pidge-have something in their hands. He staggers toward them to see what is entrapting everyone.

"Hey what are you guys doing?" He asks as he tries to lean over Hunk to get a better look at what is in Coran and Pidge's hands.

He recognizes the phone in Pidge, but whatever is in Coran's hand is drawing a blank.

"Oh just the intergalactic time race. What's faster, a second or a tick." Hunk says and looks at him. His eyes widen and he hugs him, "Lance!"

"Ooff!" He gasps at Hunk's bone crushing hug. His best friend loosens his grip on him.

"We were worried about you buddy!" Hunk exclaims supporting him by putting his arm underneath his armpit, masquerading it as a side hug.

"What happened?"

What did the Galra did to them? How did he get into the pod? Why is everyone here? What exactly happened when he was knocked out?

Too many questions to ask, so he had to stick to a two word question. He wonders if anyone caught onto it, no doubt Pidge did since he is the smartest one out of all of them.

"We will discussed what happened earlier after you eat. You must be quite famished from being in the pod for a long period of time," Allura states with all her regality.

It's nice to know that Allura does view him in a friendly light, at least comradery on her end.

Lance's lips quirk up to smirk, "Looks like someone's interested in the McClain."

The princess makes a noise of displeasure as she rolls her eyes, but he sees that she is smiling a bit.

Good old flirting, just how he likes it. He had to tone it down with Shiro around always reprimanding him.

Pidge, Keith, and Hunk groan, but his buddy does chuckle afterward.

"Looks like we don't have to be concerned about Lance McLame, king of not reading the mood," Pidge biting remarks as he pokes his side.

"Hey! My poor delicate ribs!" Lance protests, rolling with the banter that he and Hunk used to do with Pidge back in the Garrison.

It's been awhile since he heard Pidge make a Lance McLame comment, the guy's been a bit distant towards him since they got to space.

"Strange, I thought I recalibrated the pod to only open when the patient is fully healed." Coran muses as he goes to the pod he stepped out of.

"It is an Earth expression, you know when you tease your friends." Lance quickly says before Coran can do anything.

"You sure? Health is a important matter." Coran said as he turns to them.

"Just like the doofus said, we humans do that sometimes." Keith said.

"Ah I understand, and another example of weird human terms of endearment. Hopefully you and Pidge will reach the level of friendship like those two," Coran points at him and Hunk. "Same for you two with everyone else, it would be nice to see higher bondrates between everyone."

"Did he just rate friendship?" Pidge asks, leaning towards Keith.

"Did he call it bondrates?" Keith says incredulously.

Hunk and Lance look at one another. Their friendship was forged through trial and error. Hunk has a glint in his eye and Lance nods, realizing exactly what he was thinking. Tears were shed, one or two people were forced to go into events to support the other even though someone hates it, arguments were had, and on occasion, blood was spilt. The transition from elementary school to middle school was difficult for them and Cicero.

Shiro shrugs, "He just wants us to be closer."

"Exactly!" Coran snaps his fingers and heads out the door. "I'll whip something right up for you Lance, something that should fill you right up."

Coran leaves before anyone could protest.

Lance sags into Hunk, "It's going to be food goo isn't it?"

"Most likely." Hunk replies.

"It isn't that bad." Shiro says, "I find the flavor to be interesting."

'In a good or bad way?' Lance thinks as he looks at Allura who is crouching down to pick up the mice. 'Bad since the princess is in the room.'

"The texture is like jello," Shiro admits as he moves toward the door.

"Except it isn't as sugary," Pidge inputs, "and it is bicolored."

"I don't even like jello." Keith crosses his arms.

"You're just upset that you couldn't make it when you were younger," Shiro teases and Keith snorts.

"I was foolish, who lets a eight year old use a stove?"

"Someone who should read directions."

The two leave as they are sucked into one of their shared memories, and he has to admit that Keith and Shiro are close, just as much as him and Hunk. He accepted the fact about that, as people tend to be after knowing each other for a long time. What he didn't expect is that Pidge and Allura follows both of them, talking about spaceships from the tidbit he manages to overhear.

"Soooo you guys were concerned about little old me," Lance smirks as he straightens up, stretching his limbs.

"Of course we were, some of us were in the pods, but you got hurt really bad bro."

"I figured. Was having a really weird dream that I was back at home and everyone, I mean everyone was there. Princess and Coran showed up." Lance sighs as he starts walking out of the med bay, already sick of staying here.

From how surprised everyone was, spending a day, even when unconscious, it is too much.

"All of us paladins were there and our families and friends...shit. Did you tell them about what happened? Oh my god everyone must be freaking out! It's going to be like the first day again. Mamí will have my hide for getting hurt. No, Abuela will skin me alive." He grips his hair.

"Don't worry about it, I got you covered." Hunk says as the door opens for them.

A shiver goes down his spine. Sometimes, Hunk can be a little too honest involving their parents, well anyone they respect. It's a nice trait, but it isn't a good thing if anything happens to either one of them or the team.

"Got it." Lance said as he keeps pace with his best friend. "Oh wait, did you get a picture of any Arusians? I want to keep them updated with everything going on."

"Oh yeah I got that since you were posting selfies and other things before we left. Didn't help that I already read your message of keeping them in the know." Hunk rolls his eyes as the two head toward Lance's room.

"True true, but still we sort of got in the habit of both of us talking to them at least once a day." Lance sighs, "Anyway, besides the family what happened on your end of the whole Galra storming the Castle?"

"Oh buddy let me tell you it was horrible." Hunk starts, "So me and Coran had to go get a new battleship crystal at a Balmera, which is a living planet. It's just, it was under Galra control." He sighs as he looks at the ceiling.

"How did the two of you escape? Did you guys get captured at one point?"

"Yeah, but that's later. These people, Balmerians, have been enslaved for decades, no centuries. The Galra was making the Balmera sick, and those poor people forced to work, not having enough food. We got to get back there." Hunk's voice was wavering with barely restrained fury until the end.

"We are going to go back there," Lance says as he gives his friend a side hug.

"I am going to bring it up when everyone fills you in." He states and Lance nods.

"Did anything happen when I was asleep?"

"We had to clean up the village, it was a distraction when Sendak crashed the party."

They reach his room and he goes into his room. He reaches for his single pair of clothes from Earth, which is lying on his bed. He strips out of the white jumpsuit to get into his clothes. "Was everything okay?" He asks as he pulls his shirt over his head.

"Yeah, I mean we couldn't stay long for the reconstruction, but we did help out. We gave them some tools, but we couldn't stay long in case they do something again." Hunk says as Lance puts on his pants.

It's weird that he keeps saying that, like they up and left. A building can't move, but he figures that the Arusian village had to move somewhere else, away from their old home. He feels bad for the little guys who have to leave a place that was there for generations. Unless the Arusians are a type of nomadic aliens, in that case, they had to leave earlier.

"That's good. Wish I could be up to see them and help them out." Lance says as he laces up his shoes.

"If we ever come across ruined cities, yeah. I mean we are the Paladins of Voltron." Hunk said, sounding like Allura and Coran in Lance's opinion.

"You make it sound like a grand title. It's paladin not Paladin. I mean yeah we pilot the lions that make up Voltron, but it isn't really a title." Lance says as he puts on his jacket, and leaves his room with Hunk beside him.

"By itself, I don't think so, but hey, it's short for a title to some aliens whenever they say it."

"True, providing hope to the universe. Still feels weird for one word being a title."

"Think of it like King Henry. You know the word king doesn't sound as impressive unless it's with a name; although, being a king is a very important job." Hunk muses as they walk toward the dining room.

"True true, cannot even imagine being responsible for even a small group, let alone a whole country."

"Should we focus on infrastructure, education, homes, health, security, strengthening the army, cracking down on trafficking, saving money, focusing on the economy, the environment, and whatever else. Just thinking about it is stressing me out!" Hunk moves his hands as he lists each topic a king has to focus.

"Yeah too much work, imagine what King Alfor or Allura had to deal with...if you know."

The tension is palpable around them, breaching a topic that they haven't planned on.

"This is messed up." Lance says, "So messed up. Fucked up. How could someone do something like that?"

"In the end we can try to minimize the damage for war, but if it is inevitable, we need to protect all that we can."

Lance sighs, "People do things with a reason, even those who are emotion driven. Unless they are just power hungry."

"Who knows? Honestly at this point it doesn't matter what started this whole thing, billions of lives are subjugated or killed." Hunk spits out.

'It must be deplorable with the Balmerians, he's usually not this riled up unless...no this is Zarkon he's talking about. Some guy who tried to kill us twice and we didn't really do anything. Who attacked aliens he didn't know just to get into the Castle.'

"I hate this war already."

"No one should even like war. So much death and destruction, it's deplorable."

He sighs as this conversation is keeping the tension around. He knows Hunk knows about this, but it is necessary in Hunk's mind. Honestly, Lance would rather put it off right now, he just got healed from almost being killed by a bomb the other day.

Maybe it is time to have this conversation, with how the events are playing out.

"Lance, it's just...we knew there was a war, but until we actually saw something horrible, it didn't really stick."

"I know that, I'm well aware, but what can we do? Sure we have the strongest weapon there is, but you saw all those planets under Galra rule! We are just one team and there is a bajillion planets that need our help."

Hunk's fists tighten and passionately proclaims, "We still have to help, we have to try."

"No doubt on that buddy. Just, baby steps. A planet here and there, and maybe word will go out to other planets if information still travels freely," Lance responds, hopeful at the idea that with news other planets will start a rebellion to help overthrow the tyranny.

"You got to remember that they have been enslaved for a long time."

"Yeah but if they hear about Voltron, it'll give them hope. Didn't Allura say that Voltron gave hope to the entire universe one time?"

Hunks face scrunches up as he recalls the conversation Lance was alluding to. "I remember, I just hope Voltron isn't some kind of legend at this point."

"Hey all legends start somewhere?"

"All have a grain of truth to them."

The two reach the dining hall and Lance is thankful they worked through everything. He didn't want anyone to pick up any tension, they might ask questions.

It isn't worth riling anyone else up, especially voicing any troubling thoughts that everyone has mused on multiple occasions. Tensions will surely rise when this subject is touched, either due to others arguing what plan they should implement or taking out underline frustrations onto the subject.

Jokes and keeping connected is surely the way to go to prevent this, at least timed correctly; otherwise, it will backfire like the first couple of times.

"Hello everyone, the man of the hour and his best friend has arrived!" Lance announces as he walks to the table, to his seat where a plate of food goo is sitting there.

"Here I thought I was your best friend." Pidge dryly teases as Lance takes his seat.

"You're pretty up there, close to my boyf. You're like my boy."

"I still can't believe that I'm both of your best friend given the connotation to that word," Hunk teases, loosening up from their previous discussion.

They work well enough to play off each other.

"I'm not even going to ask." The diminutive teen said.

"You just need to know that it is right under best friend, and best friend is under my date." Lance says as he takes a spoonful of goo, and he shudders at the taste.

He should have prepped himself instead of taking a large bite out of the food. What can he say, he hasn't eaten anything for a day, of course he'll be hungry.

He's going to pace himself unless he wants to throw everything back up. He doesn't want to throw up the food that Coran made, even though it just tastes indescribable.

"Sounds like there is a story behind that," Shiro comments before asking, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just, what happened yesterday?"

"Commander Sendak attacked the Castle and destroyed a portion of the Arusian village we visited the other day. Thankfully we managed to take care of it, but the particle barrier got online because the Galra controlled the ship. Luckily Pidge was inside the Castle and managed to mess with the particle barrier generator which allowed Keith and I to storm in. Hunk and Coran were off to Balmera, a planet to acquire a crystal to power the Castle because our old one was destroyed with the bomb. Shiro was fighting Sendak before he was captured beside you. We defeated Sendak and he is locked up cryogenicly, and we helped rebuilding the Arusian village," Allura summarizes and Lance nods his head.

"Huh, a lot of things happened," Lance says as he scoops a spoonful of goo and hovers it over the mice. "Sounds like Keith didn't do much," Lance teases, trying to gain a rise out of him.

"Excuse me? I helped with the village, fought Sendak, and cradled you in my arms!" Keith's eyebrow twitches, taking his joke way too seriously.

"Maybe you did all of that, but I only felt you hold my arm." He admits, trying to smooth the paladin who doesn't have a sense of humor.

"Yeah and that is cradling." Keith said pointedly.

"No. Cradling is when you hold both of someone's arms and hold them to their chest."

"That's exactly what I did."

Lance waves him off, "Sure you did."

"Boys boys boys, let's not argue about the definition of cradling okay? What matters is that it happened, and we are all here." Coran interjects, attempting to pacify them.

He doubts that even happened. No way he was cradled. As far as he knows, Keith just hold him, and either Hunk, Shiro, Allura, or Coran carried him. Well, maybe not Shiro once he thinks about it, they did say their leader did sustain injuries fighting the alien.

"We are not arguing, we are just having a slightly heated discussion about a definition of a word." Keith said and Lance nods his head.

"Yeah what he said."

Coran pinches the bridge of his nose, "Honestly you two boys." He shakes his head, smiling, "Now that that is out of the way, anyone else would like to talk before these two goes at it again."

He is not pouting, simply huffing out of his nose and crossing his arms.

"I do." Pidge says and he sighs, "I have an announcement to make. I haven't been honest with all of you from the beginning." The shortest teen has his attention. "I can't man up. I'm a girl."

"Yeah I figured." Keith said.

"We were supposed to think Number Five was a boy?" Coran said, tilting his head.

Shiro nods his head.

"I knew that since the shack," Hunk admits.

"Splendid Pidge for sharing that detail." Allura said.

"Wait, Pidge is a girl?! When did this happen?!" Lance points at Pidge, at Katie, who holds her hands up, startled at his response.

"I've always been biologically a girl." Pidge, Katie, said as she pushes her glasses back up. "I don't really care if you thought I was a guy, call me Pidge or Katie, I'd still respond to it."

"Huh." Lance spoons his food goo and feeds it to the mice. "Anymore life shattering moments? Secrets anyone wants to tell."

"The Castle is a ship." Keith inputs and Lance's jaw drops.

"No way."

Keith's eyebrow is raised up, "Why don't you go look out one of the windows?"

"Nay, I say nay." Lance responds and everyone gives him a baffled look, "uh, I mean, I'll take your word for it."

Keith gives him a shallow nod and uncrosses his arms. He seldom does that unless he proved his point, and he did. He's stating a fact, one that Hunk did allude to.

"That's all out of the way, I want to say I've been contacting my family on Earth." Lance says as he brings out his phone. "It actually works, surprisingly. If you guys remember anyone's number you can use it. I can ask someone to talk to the Garrison to get any emergency numbers if you guys can't."

He leaves his phone on the table, it is unlocked, and the mice mess with it.

"You ass." Pidge says before launching onto him. "You should have told me earlier when I made that charger."

"Thanks." Keith says, doing something in his peripherals.

He doesn't bother to speak as he watches Shiro. His eyes are sorrowful for a second before he's back to his face contours to a small frown.

"Take it for a spin if you guys want now. Just come bother me if you need to later. Oh, when you're done I have got to show you some pictures I took earlier." Lance grabs the phone from the mice and opens up his camera app.

Platt is posing in the back, he has two of his arms around Plachu and Chuchule. Chuchule has her hand up like she's punching the sky with a wide grin. Plachu is holding his tail and his fur is standing up on his head. Chulatt, the small thing is on Platt's shoulders holding his fingers out in a peace sign, almost falling off the shoulders of the largest mouse.

Lance snaps a photo and goes to his gallery. He looks over his shoulder to see that Pidge, Keith, and Coran are looking at his gallery as he swipes through the photos.

Besides the recent one of the mice, there is two pictures of Arusians. One is the chief Arusian beside Allura, shaking her hand in a ruined village. Allura is a bit dirty, she must have helped with the recovery of whatever battle happened there, everyone did. There is a picture of Keith and Shiro helping the young Arusians with something and Pidge is carrying something for the building.

Besides those two pictures the rest are familiar. A single picture of the bannistar in the main room, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Black, another picture of the mice but this time they are dog piled on one another, Coran eating a spoonful of space goo, and Allura unaware of her picture taken when she is working in the command deck. There's one with Pidge on her laptop, Shiro fighting a gladiator with his hand glowing purple, Keith fighting a gladiator with his sword, and there is a picture of Hunk making something that tasted vaguely like mangos and cheese even though it wasn't it. Pictures of the scenery, like a wide shot of the Castle, and the desert, were taken. A few odd photos of various paladins, primarily Shiro and Pidge, sleeping on the couch in the common deck, pictures of his room and bathroom.

He even shows some pictures, older ones, about his family and friends. Nothing from the Garrison of course, Pidge and Keith already know about it, just some snipits of people and scenes of his life.

As he shows them the pictures to them, Shiro, Allura, and Hunk are talking with one another. He listens with one ear as the three plan what they are going to do next.

"We need to go to Balmera now, Lance is awake and I don't know how long everyone will survive." Hunk protests to the two others.

"We know Hunk, we will get there." Shiro said.

"Yes, we will put a halt to the Garla. Damaging that poor Balmera." Allura states, "If only we stayed to fight at the beginning of the war."

"What matters is that we can do something now." Shiro states.

"Exactly." Hunk says, "It's just horrible to witness something like that. Who knows how long the Balmerians were slaves to the Empire?"

"Don't worry Hunk, I'll prep the Castle to set course to the Balmera now," Allura said as she turns to leave the room.

"Thank you Allura."

 **A/N: Even though I said I won't change a thing for my interpretation of season 3, Honerva and Zarkon will definitely happen.**

 **In the dream Keith's mark is a mix of purple and white aka violet. Refer back to the beginning to see the meanings if anyone has forgotten.**

 **If anyone has any questions leave a PM or review. It's nice to know what you guys think, either to improve a part, or even gush about what you liked!**


	14. Q & A info

Hey everyone! How's it going? Unfortunately this isn't an actual chapter.

Sucks right? Well Chapter 11 will be done in maybe two weeks; I'll try not to procrastinate that much for this chapter because of school and work. Currently I'm writing a transitional piece to meeting Rolo and Nyma, but the subject matter is a bit...touchy. I'll put a warning in the beginning when I'm finished with Ch. 11 because I don't know how comfortable people are with this

I was planning on doing a Q&A toward the end of arc 1/season 1, but I think it's fitting to do this now. Mainly due to the changing dynamics between Lance and Keith will be starting pretty soon. Not to mention I've finally gotten a subplot going on with the so called big reveal of Lance's phone to everyone.

So if anyone has any questions about the fic so far I'll answer them here. This could range from character dynamics, any future scenes (might be given a y/n answer, just a heads up), future alien soulmarks, races etc. will be answered. I'll be posting questions from both my accounts on AO3 and , anything similar will be combined.

The Q&A will be posted a day or two before Ch. 11 as a sort of benchmark.

I also want to say thank you to all my readers, it's nice to see that people are reading a guilty pleasure of mine.


	15. Q & A Session!

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for a while. I've been busy, and I'll try to get Chapter 11 out on Saturday after I get all of my final exam papers out of the way and I'm off my shift from work. If you want to know what I've been doing relating to writing I made the official scene for Hanahaki, outlined a SP New Kid fic that I'll co-write with a friend, and plan on making a long fic of Mystic Messenger (It'll take a long time for that and I got to much on my plate now).**

 **Q &A Session!**

 **Giles_Flash_Cards:** I was wondering how the Hanahaki fits into this scenario, but I am sure that is a reveal you already have on the agenda.

I don't mind explaining the background of the importance of disease and the link it has to both types of soulmates, yes you heard me right, it has the possibility to affect both. The information will be regurgitated within the fic, but I am not going to say the exact instance of when one of the characters gets it (if that is what you're implying about the agenda).

Hanahaki is going to sort of be a reveal, but it might be beneficial for you guys to know the rules of this mismatch AU. The general premise is the same: flower starts to grow in your lungs, killing you via suffocation from immense one-sided love towards an individual.

Due to how I'm writing this, as a soulmate fic, it's difficult the say of the least. I've seen fics where there is one-sided soulmates of the romantic variety, but there was no repercussions. There is historical context where one-sided soulmates that are romantic get Hanahaki, and people pray that they don't get it. Besides this, in the fic there are principles as to how you can get Hanahaki as well: one-sided romantic soulmates, somehow gaining romantic affection towards a platonic soulmate and not telling them, or it affects people who tend to deny their feelings to someone over a period of time.

 **Giles_Flash_Cards:** I'm also wondering if Keith has a soulmark that does not correspond to human expectations for a soulmark.

So you know how Keith appears to be human despite having Galra blood from his mom right. He looks completely human besides his eyes, but even his indigo/purple eyes could be explained that he has a lot of melanin, which is a cover his dad Elrik definitely used (also some humans have purple eyes and it's a mutation called Alexandria's Genesis, it's so pretty). Whenever there is a hybrid species, the offspring that most resembles one of their parents will gain the equivalent to their species equivalent to a soulmate. Therefore, Keith's soulmate will be following the human way, having the first words with the color and format that represents what their other half is like.

It has been some time, but he does have Allura's words on his forearm is magenta. It's the mixture of red, white, and purple.

 **glassreader:** No clue what bondmates are

So basically bondmates are the Altean equivalent to platonic soulmates in a sense and intense hatred. Bondmates are two individuals who are going to be an Altean's greatest friend or greatest enemy. Symptoms of a bond mate is feeling warm but cold at the same time when you lock your eyes to someone else; this happens a couple of times until the Altean realizes they have met their bondmate.

Unfortunately an Altean cannot differentiated if their bondmate will be their friend or enemy. Basically, if your bondmate is your enemy who is actually quite nice, and then you meet your friend bond mate, you have to wait until someone stabs you in the back.


	16. Chapter 11

**Sorry I'm late! Here's the chapter!**

After changing out of their clothes into their Paladin uniform, everyone heads toward the command deck. When Lance came in he saw Allura type in the coordinates to, what he assumes, the Balmera.

As Allura does her helmsman duty, Lance watches Hunk wringing his hands as he concentrates on the Princess. Allura pulls up the hologram, showing them the quadrant that they are in. She taps on the controls at the edge of the command deck, causing a lot of the planets to turn red. He sees Allura's eyebrows furrow and Coran frown as they look at the screen.

"This is all the planets that Zarkon took over," Shiro states after looking at the map for a second.

"Yes and no. Those are the distress signals over ten thousand years, and so many planets have been sieged under Zarkon's reign. This also includes any distress signals from ships long ago." Allura explains as she sets course to a planet a varga away.

"This is why we need Voltron, to stop him from expanding and to help everyone." Pidge says as she raises her glasses.

"And we will, we'll form Voltron and destroy Galra influence," Keith says as he clenches his fist. His anger toward the Empire is impressive, it looks like he can rival Allura's sediments about the alien race.

A red symbol suddenly appears on the map and the two Alteans look at it. Lance gets the idea that Zarkon just took over some other planet.

"We must go help the distressed ship on the moon!" Coran exclaims and Lance looks at the map.

'That's a moon? There's too many symbols to tell what's what.' He thinks before he glances at his ansty best friend.

Hunk's eyes darted to Allura and the map before her. He is biting his lip and Lance reaches up to grip Hunk's forearm. His best friend is still jittery, trying to contain his anxiousness.

"What about Balmera?!" Hunk exclaims, no longer able to contain himself.

"Balmera is still our priority Hunk," Shiro starts, "but we need to help these people"

"Shiro is right, rarely anyone uses the distress signal. There are plenty of pirates around that can come and plunder their ships!" Coran says as he swipes his hand in the air, his fingers curled like a hook.

"But Shay. She needs us. She needs Voltron and we can go help her and her people."

"And we will, we'll just take a small detour. Our mission is to save as many people as we can." Allura states and Hunk's face pinches before he sighs.

"Fine." Hunk curtly replies.

Lance knows his buddy is angry, he rarely loses his temper. Hunk is the type of person to bottle things up. Normally he would press Hunk about the topic, to reassure him about whatever's bothering him, but that would involve the two of them going somewhere alone. They can't do that if they are going to go to the Lions' hangers if they are sending them out to assist in whatever distress signal is coming from the nearest satillite.

"I understand you want to help the Balmerans Hunk, truly do I. But a ship sent out a distress signal, and we aren't going off course at all. It won't take even a varga."

"Alright." He said with his shoulders slumped.

"Full speed ahead!" Coran declares as he points to the darkness of space before tapping on some buttons on the table.

Lance clenches his fist and touches Hunk's arm. His best friend looks at him and he tilts his head toward the door.

"Man I'm still starving, I could eat a horse. Hey Hunk, why don't you help me cook up something? You are the best at making things edible for me." He says with a wink and made a convincing growl from the back of his throat.

He mastered the art of faking his stomach growling, it got him out of a couple of awkward situations back in the day. Making a lame excuse to get food to abscond from whatever conversation he was in.

He saunters out of the room and he hears a second pair of footsteps behind him. As the two leave the room, Lance turns back to Hunk and leads them to a random room.

It is a semi-large room where there are six circular devices that are about a foot raised off the floor and a lectorum a few feet away from them. Lance leads Hunk towards the closest device and sits on it. Hunk follows his lead and he looks at his hands.

Hunk sighs before blurting out, "I hate this. Like I know Allura is right, but damn it Lance you should have seen it. It's just horrible the Galra colonization, and I knew that we were going to fight against this. I knew that ever since we signed up, and I thought I was prepared at the party. No, it's worse. The planet looked sick, the Balmerians looked weak, no just tired. They are a strong sort of aliens, people, but they resigned to the fact that nothing good is going to happen to them."

Hunk grips his hair, tugging on it, and he grinds his teeth. Immediately Lance reaches over to put his hand on top of his, to reassure Hunk that he is still here before he shuts everything out.

"The sheer hopelessness out of most of them, and the only thing they have is each other. The only thing that is strong is their bonds, and what if the Galra starts breaking that apart? They already took Shay, what if they start acting out? Putting themselves at risk and then being captured or killed. Everyone will mourn for them and it will just continue and continue." Hunk rushes out and then he goes silent. He stares out in front of him, his irises are shaking, his eyes are starting to water, and he is gripping his chest as he clenches his hair tightly. He can feel Hunk trembling. "I hate this. I hate this so damn much. Look at me, even with Yellow's help I can't help but be furious."

'Shit.' It's dangerous for Hunk when he gets quiet. He's ruminating and it might trigger an episode.

Lance gingerly move his fingers under Hunk's iron grip of his hair. He interlaces Hunk's hand and squeezes it-Hunk clutching it as his life depends on it-and he uses his other to hug Hunk. "Hunk we'll get there. It'll just be a little while. We'll save them."

"When we save them we'll help the planet. Allura will hand them a communicator, we'll call them whenever. Take a couple of selfies, and find out a way to distract Pidge from her laptop to download the pictures. You think she'll be pissed with us messing around with it?" He leaves the question hanging. Hunk is still quiet. He presses on, "Pretty sure she'll chase me around and try to zap me with her bayard. No wait, I beet she'll try to get Shiro to corner me or use the Castle's cameras to corner me before taking me down. Maybe she'll kick me in my gonads?" Lance shivers, "Man that would suck."

Hunk snorts and Lance figures he took a step in the right direction.

"Is it bad that I imagine her doing that? Like she could totally do it. Remember the time that Pidge went without sleep for three whole days? It was crazy, she was biting everyone's heads and she barely managed to scrape by with five demerits. Seriously thought she would have a lot more by causing everyone in the lunch line to fall down and then instigated that huge food fight." Lance recalls and he really did not like that day. He got mashed potatoes in his hair and the only reason why Pidge didn't get a heavier sentence was that she managed to shift the blame to someone else.

Truly Pidge is a devious devil when sleep deprived.

"Remember we were caked with barbeque sauce and it was the one day where we got some decent food."

"S-steak day, rewarding everyone's e-efforts a week after mid terms," Hunk says, as he salivates.

"Mhm, not as good as yours, but still it was better than anything else they had." Lance nods.

He's happy he's finally getting through to Hunk.

He cradles Hunk closer to his body. "What was your favorite meal over there? Mine was the steak obviously."

"It w-would have to be the limited time cinnamon rolls. They're always so fresh and they actually make it by hand."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah, they get up early to do that. Why do you think on exam days that they have that? Only to students who wake up early."

"That's why they are always moist." He says, recalling that is one of the few times where the food is completely warm, he thought they reheat the cinnamon rolls.

"I even got to see them make it."

"When did that happen?"

"You tend to exfoliate early for exam days. I slip away whenever that happens."

"Managing to leave undetected and come back in, man you are impressive. Looks like our outings were a positive thing after all, besides sneaking out to grab some pizza."

"But that isn't the point."

"It still got you to the cafeteria and back."

"That's because you took too long in the bathroom."

"Hey hey," Lance pokes Hunk, scowling a little. "Don't make fun when I'm keeping my skin perfect."

He notices two tracks of dried tear tracks and he hesitates. They already started bantering and he doesn't know if he wipes the smear if the bantering will unravel.

Sometimes it's hard to see what he should do. He knows Hunk needs to feel that he's there, he's past that stage, but it feels too soon to bring the attention back to the discord Hunk felt. Maybe in a little while so he won't relapse, but it won't be as bad as the panic attack. No, he doesn't want Hunk to feel bad again.

"It's funny because you're oblivious when you're inside."

"Tch no I'm not," Lance scoffs and he bites his cheek to prevent a smile from escaping, "I don't remember anything like that."

"I had to burst inside even though I was calling out to you outside and warned you I was playing those old musicals you love."

"You broke the sacrality of our altering movie weeks!"

"I warned you an hour before we started at night." Hunk rolls his eyes as he pokes Lance's cheek. "But someone didn't listen."

"In my defense Jose messed with my products. Little shit. Mixed everything up and it was horrible. I had to see what I could salvage or not."

"But that isn't the other times," Hunk teases and Lance stiffens.

"Man you are never going to let that go."

"Nope."

"I don't know if I love you or I hate you."

"Aw you could never hate me."

Lance stares at Hunk. Hunk raises his eyebrow. Hunk leans in and sticks out his tongue.

He snorts, "Who would ever hate that adorable face."

"I prefer the word handsome."

"Fine handsome." He attests.

"Where's the waxing poetry? You seem to be good at it in the mirror."

Lance scowls indignantly as his cheeks heat up. "Can it."

"'Look at this handsome face, I swear a goddess allowed my Mama to bestow me of this beauty. If only everyone can see my beauty and worship me.'" Hunk says, pitching his voice an octave higher.

"I did not say the end part." Lance protests as he touches Hunk's face and wipes his cheeks. "And I don't sound like that."

"I don't know about that." Hunk tilts his head and mirrors Lance's action, placing his hands on the side of his friend's face. "Thanks for cheering me up. I feel bad, Yellow's always been with me, constantly there, but she's trying to show me images then feeling her there."

"So you actually feel Yellow huh."

"It's like she's giving me a hug or she's right behind me. She rarely shows me anything besides this time," Hunk sighs, looking at the ground.

Lance recognizes that his friend will start to berate himself again. "Just remember I'm here and Pidge. Rant at us or something. Take a load on us so you can keep warm in the all enclosing presence of Yellow," he says before whispering, "I hate it when you bury your feel"

"Technically I wasn't burying them. It's just been intense the past few days."

There are times where Hunk becomes hyper focused and will become demanding if the project he is working on isn't met. Lance suppose that this situation took things to another level with his best friend.

"No kidding."

"Don't worry it was just stress and things are starting to sink in. It's one thing to talk about stuff and another to experience it." Hunk sighs before getting up to stretch. "Come on, we wasted enough time here, we need to get back from our kitchen escapade."

'Has Hunk ever been this mature?' Lance wonders as he stares at his friend's back. He knows that Hunk is a worrywart, who can be serious, but funny at times. He is intense when he's focused on one of his projects, but he is easy going once he's doing something else.

He clenches his fist, 'Looks like I have to step up my game.' He nods, affirming his thought, he needs to keep things together with Hunk and the rest of the team. He can't fall behind, but he has to make sure that others aren't going to just be focused on fighting all the time.

"There you two are!" A familiar voice shouts. Coran comes through the door with two bottles just as Hunk was about to leave. "I've been looking all over for you two."

"Sorry Coran, we kind of explored a bit of the ship," Hunk lies as Coran hands a green bottle to Hunk.

"No worries. But Hunk, I want you to try my new concoction. You did say you have a superb palate on the Castle." Coran winks as he shoves the bottle into Hunks hand.

Hunk takes a tentative sip of the drink as Lance walks towards them.

"Didn't know what this room is, but it's a lot of empty space." He comments as he keeps an eye on Hunk's face. His friend turns a bright red and he's fanning his mouth.

"Ah the documentation room. Holographic images of planets we explored and the inhabitants on it." Coran says wistfully before noticing Hunk panting. "Careful, the mixture is a bit hot, but it rejuvenates the body."

"Ah fink ah burn mah tongue." Hunk says, as he clenches the green bottle.

"Forgot to give you the cooling agent. Just a drop so you don't freeze your whole mouth." Coran cheerfully states his disturbing message as he hands him the orange bottle.

Hunk snatches the bottle from Coran's hand and holds it over his mouth. He shakingly uncaps the bottle and tilts it to his awaiting mouth. Hunk is hyperfocused, his eyes are practically crossed as his tongue waves out of his mouth frantically in hopes of having some sort of relief.

Lance watches raptly as the orange gel that smells like cinnamon slowly leaves the container. The moment it does Hunk tilts the container up as his tongue touches the liquid. He pulls it inside his mouth and he shivers.

"Sweet but super cold. Feels like my teeth are aching." He comments, rubbing his face.

"Well that out of the way, the Castle has docked on the moon, so let's meet our distressed companions!" Coran cheerfully says and before he turns around he says, "Come on Lance. No use in hanging back. The room may be cool but there's a time and place for everything."

"Got it." He said.

"Everyone's heading to the entrance, meet them up there."

He didn't know that they already landed, then again, he wasn't paying attention.

Hunk is already walking in the direction of the entrance of the Castle. Lance leaves the room, as he goes through the door Coran gives him a thumbs up. He's confused but he figures it's just one of Coran's quirks.

Lance catches up to Hunk and the two of them power walk to the group. Lance turns around to see if Coran is coming with them, it looks like he left the corridor to another room.

'Guess he has something to do. Prep the Castle if the distress call is fake and we get jumped. He was so happy to see it though,' Lance recalls the determined look that Coran had when it was announced that people were still using distress signals. 'What am I thinking? He's getting some stuff up and running again from the invasion.'

As Lance and Hunk are going down the halls, Lance noticed that Hunk is starting to tense up. He comments, "We'll be out quickly you know. Find out what they need help with, it might be them stranded or in the middle of a fight."

"If there was a fight Allura would be on the coms telling us to get our Lions."

"I guess they're stranded. Luckily we have the best mechanic around."

The two manage to catch up to everyone as they were about to leave, they had to run so that the entire group can go together.

"Wait up!" Lance shouts.

"What took you so long?" Pidge asks.

"Had to make sure that we had everything in our pockets." Lance says as he pats his pants.

His bayard is there, along with his phone in a separate compartment. Sometimes a man wants to take pictures in space.

They walked in relative silence, Hunk was vigilant, along with Shiro, Keith, and Allura. Pidge was scanning the area in front of them, and Lance has his shoulders squared back. He might as well try for Hunk even though he doubts that whoever sent the distress signal is really out to gun them down.

Unsurprisingly, Pidge is the first one to point out a damaged ship and Lance sighs in relief. It was a false alarm, no need for everyone to be tense and ready for an attack. He glances to his best friend from home. Hunk relaxes a bit, but there is still suspicion in his eyes. It's unwarranted since even Shiro quickens his pace due to the validity of the distress signal, and Allura keeps pace with him. Keith is right behind Shiro and everyone walks toward the ship.

Three figures are in the distance, and Lance sees that one figure is purple, another yellow, and the last white. As they get closer to the three stranded aliens-two Lance corrects himself-he notices that the purple alien looks handsome in a rugged way.

'Catherine would have loved him,' his thought begins before Lance banishes it. He gazes at the gorgeous woman with the biggest purple eyes. He forces his eyes away from her, he shouldn't get distracted by her. He glances at Hunk who is frowning as he stares at the space ship.

Lance doesn't realize that everyone is talking to the stranded aliens and their robot. Said robot looking uncomfortable with Pidge all over it as she is asking various questions. He seriously shouldn't have spaced out-ha-and he should pay attention now.

"We can provide assistance in any way we can Rolo," Allura informs the purple skinned alien, whose eyes widen a bit.

"Thank you Allura. Our ship needs some work before we can fly. Do you, perchance, have someone who can fix it?" The alien, Rolo, formally asks and Lance can't help but think that Allura introduced herself with her title first.

"I'm on it." Hunk shouts, already stalking toward the side of the broken ship where there is smoke coming out of it.

Lance winces. At least Hunk kept his tone even. Pidge glances at him then to Hunk and back again. Normally Lance would use one of their code words with her, but there isn't one for Balmera or Shay yet so he just jutted his hip to the side and quirked his eyebrow twice.

Code: Do not engage. Aggressive.

Aggressive can be interchanged with stress, but given how Hunk was earlier, Pidge can assume the code is for aggressive. Technically she would be right, as people get aggressive when they are stressed. More snappish, but with Hunk...he internalizes. The three of them use it constantly at the Garrison, and their instructors didn't even have a clue of how they were communicating. With the situation as it is now, they shouldn't bother Hunk quite yet. He may have helped him earlier, but the big guy needs time to process things. It'll be better for him if he or Pidge can keep an eye on him in public rather than bombard him with their talking, then have him be alone.

Shiro starts to make a campfire and everyone-sans Hunk-gathers around the fire. Lance keeps away from the group, eyeing Hunk and occasionally sneaking glances at the female alien.

Pidge turns her head back to the robot she was on, praising it once again. He knows she understood the exchange, she was the one who would give the signal to them whenever she was finishing up with a personal project and didn't want to be bothered. That didn't mean that they didn't bother her so that she can get out of her dorm and can actually have a break. Lance recalls the hard textbooks being thrown his way.

He tunes into the conversation. "-planet destroyed by Galra. I managed to escape," Rolo says, telling his tale. "Before I lost something." He taps at his left leg.

"Got some things ready." Hunk calls out, a little more cheerful with the parts beside him. No one at the fire really heard him and Lance saw Hunk frown before getting to work.

"What can you tell us about Zarkon's forces?" Allura asks and Lance sees Pidge climbing on Breezer and riding it.

'No one's concerned about her?'

"Zarkon's command ship is at the center of the Empire. He mostly sends out his generals to other quadrants to keep up the status quo." Rolo declares, clenching his hand tight. "This quadrant is under Sendak's reign."

"We met." Keith crosses his arms and gazes into the fire.

"I'm sorry but we're kind of in a hurry," Hunk says as he approaches the group by the fire.

Just as Hunk was going to confront them, Nyma gets up from sitting on one of the chests. Nyma walks over to him, and she props her elbow on the tall box that he is leaning against. "I can't help but notice I didn't catch your name tall one." She says with her lips quirked upward.

Lance coughs. "Sorry about that. I was taken with your beauty." He doesn't wink like he'd usually would when delivering his solid one-liners. He can still see Hunk working on the cargo ship, but he can't leave a lady hanging. "The name's Lance."

"Well Lance, do you know my name?" She maneuvers herself to lean toward him slightly.

"Of course I do Nyma. How could I ever forget a pretty name like yours?"

"Oh you are too kind Lance." Nyma chuckles, "Unfortunately Nyma is a common name from my home planet."

"And what planet is that?" He inquires, wanting to know so then he can find out what is in the Castle's database.

He's interested in alien lifeforms when they aren't being hunted down by Zarkon. The feeling of wanting to know more was spurred on by Coran who told him so many stories of his adventures. Some of them were outlandish-like the time where he fought off two grizzle size Morinals which are reptilian creatures with two tails that have spikes shooting out of the tails that are coated with a chemical compound for paralysis and sharp claws-and by all accounts he should have died. Still, stories that Coran tells is something he loves. It makes him feel connected when he's only texting his family, bothering his team, practicing his suave moves when he saves a distressed alien, and training aka gun tricks.

Nonetheless, Lance would love to know the name and maybe there is a basic picture of the planet surface. He wonder if there are others who look similar to Nyma, a population full of beautiful men and women. Heck, he'd bet his left shoe that the kids are adorable.

Lance notices that Nyma takes in a sharp breath and he gives her a concerned look. She says, "Cizar. It isn't what it once was."

'Shoot, backtrack. Really put my foot in my mouth there. Good going me, you deserve a reward.' Lance quickly says. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked something like that."

"It's alright Lance," Nyma flashes him a small smile, "you didn't know. It seems though the more planets we pass the more they are under Zarkon's rule."

"Not Arus. There must be plenty of planets out there without the Galra."

"Not to sound like a pessimist, but that is few and far between."

"It won't be for long. Voltron will annihilate the Galra." Lance flexes his arm. "You can count on us."

"Isn't that a child's tale?" Nyma asks, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Heck no, you're talking to one of the paladins." He points his thumb to himself, smirking.

Nyma is quiet for a moment. Lance notices that she looks at Shiro, Pidge, Keith, Allura, and Hunk before glancing at him. Her purple eyes widen. "Is that why most of you are coded to the supposed limbs of Voltron?"

"You bet."

Nyma cocks her hip toward him and her lips curl upward. She taps his chest, where the blue V of Voltron is. "I'm guessing you are the Blue Paladin."

"The one and only." He winks at her.

"Hard to believe that a Paladin is around in this day in age."

"We aren't going anywhere." Lance declares before looking at Hunk. His friend is working on the spacecraft, and then he glances at Allura, who is talking animatedly to everyone. "Let me show you something. Follow me."

He moves away from the crate and slips out from the group. He glances behind him to see that Nyma is silently walking a step behind him. Her yellow hair trails behind her and he slows down a bit to stay step-by-step beside her. The two of them head to the Castle and Lance whispers to her.

"Let me tell you, you are going to have a once in a lifetime opportunity, well maybe more." He admits before shrugging, "To see my partner."

"Partner? I thought the members of Voltron are already partners." Nyma inquires as the two of them stealthily heads into the white spaceship.

"True, but my partner, along with the others, is an unsung hero. People tend to forget about that gorgeous woman."

"Gorgeous? Should I be jealous?" Nyma teases startling Lance.

He knew his charms are potent, nothing can mask his 100% awesomeness coupled with sensitive masculinity, and he wasn't even using his maximum game. He was using half of his charms, and he has to admit, playing coy and interested does bring a lot of ladies. Not enough as being blunt and pulling all of the moves in his arsenal.

"Maybe if you're jealous of someone who is white and blue and is shaped like a lion."

His response left Nyma quiet for a long moment., The two quickly slip through the front door and Lance guides Nyma to the command deck. As the two amble through two corridors, Nyma finally says, "Your Lion?"

"Bingo."

"Is this the same sentiment that Rolo has when he calls his blaster Hellina? I swear boys and their toys." Nyma shakes her head before she sharply inhales. "I just didn't assume that you would be like that Lance. You don't seem like the type to do such a thing."

Lance chuckles as they go up a corridor, "I don't name my things like some guys-" 'Not going to tell her about Manny the Musket' "-but Blue is a special girl."

"How is i-she a special girl?" Nyma asks, and Lance can't help but feel his heart warm for the beauty beside him.

She actively trying to see things his way, which touches his heart, especially when she was adamant about her opposition with her partner's blaster. People like that are hard to find in his opinion, and even if he and Nyma can't get close-which he doubts it-they'd still be friends.

Lance bites his cheek, pondering on the correct analogy to describe Blue's wholesome self. A thought strikes him as they are four hallways away from the command deck. "Breezer. He acts like he has his own personality right?"

"Of course, he has some a.i. programming for emotions. He isn't the top of the line stuff, but he's a core part of the group." Nyma says as her arm brushes against Lance.

"Blue's kind of like that, but more. It's hard to explain."

'How does one explain that your partner literally shows you her emotions when your distressed or providing you contentment when you are both lazing around in the hangers or anywhere in the Castle?' Lance thinks as he struggles to verbalize his intimate emotional experience with Blue. 'Most people would think I'm crazy. Not that I am and I love our relationship Blue.' He sends out joy, contentment, and love.

An image of him lounging in his pilot seat in Blue flashes in his mind's eye.

Happiness. Languid.

His lips quirk upward and he scrunches up his eyes to draw up an image of Nyma. 'You're going to meet a new friend of mine.'

Interest.

An image of Lance wiggling his eyebrows.

Mirth.

Lance would be huffing because Blue is being sassy, but he's in some company. He would think about how Blue managed to bring up a short memory of him wiggling his eyebrows in a short video he took to send to his family-along with Hunk's parents and his friends-when he was in the kitchen. He was messing with the food goo machine with his hand covered in the stuff as he wanted to show them what he and the others were eating if Hunk wasn't cooking.

Immediately he focuses on Nyma. The blonde alien is staring at him intently and he felt like smacking himself. He shouldn't spaced out like that when talking to an interested lady.

"Sorry about that. Trying to think about how I should say how Blue's so different without sounding like a lunatic." Lance chuckles as he scratches the back of his neck.

He realizes that they are close to the command deck, just straight ahead.

"Come on Lance, I won't think anything like that." Nyma says as she touches her upper arm. She's giving him a wide smile.

"Well, Blue can send me her emotions. Like she can't express them physically like Breezer can, but mentally." Lance holds his breath as he watches Nyma's face intently.

The easy going smile on her face, one that morphs into pouting as she studies him intently for a second. She stops walking to stare at him before she finally opens her mouth. "That is certainly odd, but I can assume it's because Blue is an important part of Voltron. Obviously she would have something special about her that makes her different from regular ships. Although, having an ability of empathy found in some races is surprising."

He sighs in relief. "You believe me."

"Why shouldn't I? Lance, you've been honest this whole time, so why shouldn't I believe you?"

"How do you know that?" He teases as he leans toward her before stepping in front of the door to the command deck. It opens and the two of them go inside.

"I'm an excellent judge of character." She banters back, as she follows him to his portion of the room to get to Blue.

Not that she knows, but Lance can't help but feel excited of showing someone the zipliner to get to Blue's hanger. It was fun going down it, even though the first time was an emergency when they had to destroy Sendak's fleet.

"I don't doubt you. Now let me show you something cool." He steps in front of the opened wall and beckons the alien to come with him. They go down a short elevator shaft.

"Where are we going?" Nyma asks as she stares in wonder at the blue lights surrounding us in the elevator.

"To see Blue. Come on, we're going to get to my favorite part." He says as the elevator stops. The zipline is right above his head, and he turns to look at Nyma. "Hold on tight to me." He puts his hands on the thin metal and waits until he feels strong hands wrap around his chest.

He pushes off from the platform, and the two of them are zooming past everything. Lance hears her laughing. He joins in with her, howling out, "WOOHOO!"

They are descending fast, gaining momentum and Lance can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 'Come on Blue you know what you got to do,' He communes and he sees the familiar Lion's head at the end. He nods his head as he sees an image that she sent him.

"You ready? I'm going to let go right about...now!" Lance calls out and Nyma screams as he does so.

Blue opens up her maul and they soar into her mouth. He sees his chair move toward them before it stops, as Blue already calculated where they would land. During their fall, Nyma's grip on him turns vice-like. The two of them fall into the chair, Nyma on the seat while he is sitting on her lap. He tries to correct himself as the chair immediately goes inside, and Blue takes control to put the pilot seat back in it's position by her controls.

Nyma releases her grip on him and he situates himself to be more comfortable as Blue opens the hatch to the control room. "So how was that?" He asks as the chair stops moving.

"It was...exhilarating!" Nyma declares, she gushes out, "I want to do that again!"

"Looks like Blue pulled out all the stops for us. Got to thank you girl." He says, and the controls are online the moment he acknowledges his partner.

He feels Blue purring, the slight vibrations around them, and it seems like Nyma couldn't feel it or thought it was nothing.

"And you do this all the time?" Nyma asks, her eyes dilated as she looks at him.

"Yep." He says and realizes he should have said yes. It would have been cooler to do that, but he doubts that Nyma would really mind. She's interested in him, she's open to new things, and she trusts him when he showed her one of the most important part of his life.

"Then that means Voltron is actually true." She whispers to herself, and Lance catches it. She looks at him and says, "This is amazing. Lance, you're amazing."

"You bet I am. Now I happen to be a guy who keeps on giving, and why don't I give you a test run of what Blue and I can do." He says as he situations himself, going to the edge of the seat this time.

He's a pilot, and he knows it's best to sit up and fly. Even though he liked sitting in Nyma's lap.

'Come on Blue, why don't we give her a good show?' He thinks as he touches the controls.

Blue takes off from the hanger, and out of the Castle. Not even a few seconds and they are already making headway off the moon. Lance is focused on the screen, but he keeps his ears open for Nyma's gasps of amazement. He bets that the cargo ship she, Rolo, and Breezer fly in can never be as fast as Blue or any of the other Lions.

Blue has a burst of speed as they leave the moon in a corkscrew. Nyma's crying out in joy as they are dodging asteroids and doing aerial spins. Lance spots a planet a fair distance away, and he flies near it. He figures it would be nice to see some wildlife. Hopefully the fauna on the planet won't try to kill him.

Statistically speaking, plantlife shouldn't be carnivorous. Lance is willing to bet on that, otherwise his impromptu session of showing Nyma how cool being a paladin is will bite him in the ass. 'Or ruin the date if she see's it as a date.' Lance thinks before glancing at Nyma again.

"I'm going to land on that planet there, maybe a little sightseeing before going back to the moon." He suggests as he eases Blue down to the mesosphere of the planet.

"That would be great, not to mention I'd like to feel how smooth Blue's landing is."

Lance can feel Blue's pride from the comment. It bolsters his own and he descends into the stratosphere and then the troposphere. He spots a clearing that is a short distance away. Landing on the purple colored grass-carefully and he didn't have Blue make the trees that are a fair distance away move-Lance gets up from his seat.

His ass may be a bit squished, a pilot seat is not fit for two, and he holds out his hand for Nyma like a gentleman should. She accepts saying, "Thank you," to him.

He flashes her a smile and the two of them walk out of the control room to the ramp of Blue's mouth. Lance stops for a moment, putting up the visor on his helmet specifically for readings and oxygen, to survey the planet's oxygen levels. There is sufficient oxygen here and he deactivates the visor. and sees a reading on his helmet saying that there are oxygen levels on the planet that are enough for him. He takes off his helmet-the visor automatically shuts down-and looks around the beautiful planet.

He can't help but feel lucky that he get's to experience things that the majority of humans never got to experience. Even if fighting in a intergalactic war is a downside, at least he'll be helping out aliens-meeting new people-and saving them from the Galra.

He and Nyma walk in the clearing, and he follows her to a single tree in the middle of it.

"I want to show you something special," Nyma declares fervently, and Lance can't help but smirk.

"If that's what the lady wishes then go for it." He says and she walks closer to him.

She gets in his personal space, and he never noticed that Nyma is half a head taller than him. She is a few inches from his face and Lance knows what she's going to do.

He closes his eyes and purses his lips.

In a second he feels deft fingers hold his wrists-his helmet escapes his hands-and something cold is around his wrists. He opens his eyes to see he is cuffed to the tree and he leers at her, "Kinky."

Nyma takes a small object from her pocket, presses one of the buttons, and looks at him. "Sorry about this hotshot, but don't take this personal."

Lance's eloquent response is, "What?"

Nyma ignores him in favor of tapping away on the object and Rolo's face appears on a small holographic screen. 'A communicator,' Lance figures, his eyes widening.

"Sending my coordinates now as I have the package." Nyma says, her voice devoid of the playful undertone since he met her. She taps something on her communicator and it takes about half a minute for Rolo to respond.

"Good work. I'm already off the moon, have been for ten doboshes. Heading to Planet T25J-04." Rolo states and Lance can't help but glare at the communicator before Rolo's face immediately blinks out.

'To think I thought he and Nyma looked hot.' Lance scowls at himself, he should have realized that there is some truth to the hackneyed saying of never judging a book by it's cover. The two were friendly enough, but they were really backstabbers.

'Package? What package? Unless they mean me, but how are they going to take me out of the tree. Sure Nyma has the key, but why would they want me? I'm handsome and all, but I shouldn't be this popular.' Quickly his thoughts flash to Nyma's disbelief about Voltron actually existing and his eyes widen. 'Holy crow she's going to try to take Blue.'

Lance sees from the corner of his eyes that Blue activated her particle barrier. 'At least she'll be safe.'

He struggles against his binds, "You're not going to get away with this." Lance glowers at the female he thought was his friend.

"Funny. It seems like I have you exactly where I want you." Nyma says before walking toward him. She touches his face, "Really Lance I do like you, but I like GAC a lot more. The Galra are bound to pay a few thousand for one of the Lions."

"Why are you doing this? Voltron will save the universe!" Lance shouts and Nyma puts her fingers under his chin and lifts it up.

"What makes you think we haven't already tried? Resistance is futile against the Galra, everyone I cared about is dead!" Nyma responds, barely restraining herself from yelling. Her eyes mist over, recalling a time long since past.

"It may not be much now, but we are going to free everyone from the Galra's tyranny." He declares, and Nyma snorts.

"Like that'll ever work. The Galra Empire has been around for 10,000 years, what can you do? Free a planet here and there? But the universe will never be free." Nyma turns away from him and walks toward Blue. The cargo ship that was broken is already entering the planet's atmosphere. "Voltron can't start a war, the most likely scenario is that causes a skirmish."

"You know I sort of had this conversation with Hunk the other day. You know the big worrywort."

"Your friend is wise. It seems that he is the only one with enough sense in your team. Your Princess was a bit too optimistic for this war." Nyma says, not even bothering to turn around as she heads toward her ship when a tractor beam is lifting Blue into the air.

Lance can't help but bristle at the comment. Allura and Shiro are wise too, not just Hunk. Shiro just got back from escaping from the Arena and Allura was there at the beginning of the war. The Princess is only trying to remain positive for a dire situation, she's doing the best she can. He recalls seeing her sullen face when she thinks she's alone, but the moment she notices him she has her guard up.

Blue is already in the ship and Lance struggles again. He feels Blue's anger and her frenzied agitation. He sees an image of her being in the cave they found her in, a distorted image of her pilot leaving her, her loneliness.

"Blue!" He yells out mentally and verbally.

He feels his partner give out a acute calmness before she returns to anger and agitation. He stares at her disappearing form as she is taken into the ship.

Even in dire situations she manage to try to keep him level headed.

He grinds on his teeth. Anger bubbles in his chest, and he looks down to the ground. His helmet is there and instantly a plan forms. He just needs to get his helmet. Contact his team and then they can go save blue.

With that in mind he manuvers his leg to bring it closer to him. Stretching himself at odd angles before moving around the tree to get closer to his helmet. He manages to touch it with the tip of his foot and awkwardly. He flips it upward, and the helmet falls on his head. The helmet is on the ground and Lance lowers himself to angle his head through the helmet, straining his neck and back. Finally the helmet is on.

"Communication activate," He says, thankful that there is a voice activation option besides touching a button to talk to his team. "Guys, Nyma and Rolo stole Blue."

"What?" Keith says.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted those guys." He hears Hunk declaring his sediment toward the two aliens.

"Rolo just left this satellite, we should be able to catch him," Pidge mutters, and that provides Lance some relief.

The chase won't take too long and he doubts that on the cargo ship there is wormhole technology in there.

"Regardless we need to bring back Blue." Allura commands and he hears everyone chorus out "Yes."

Lance hears his team running, to the Castle or they are already inside it and are heading into the command deck.

"Alright team, once we are in our Lions keep an eye out on our long range sensors. Fan out to pick up their signal before converging back." Shiro declares and the comms remain open.

Lance keeps his mouth shut, he doesn't want to distract anyone right now. His heart hurts, his friend betrayed him and she took Blue away from him.

'Why do I think she's my friend?'

He's furious with her, her actions betrayed the trust he had in her. She stole Blue away from him, the only girl he felt an instant connection with when they got into space. He felt that way with Hunk and Cicero when he first met them. They're his best friends-Pidge is to but he has to be honest with himself, the girl is slow to warm-due to that.

He sort of understands why Nyma did that. She alluded that she tried to overthrow the Galra Empire. She lost a lot of people that she cared about, people close to her, who could understand her.

She lost hope. The will to fight, and she trusts no one. 'Maybe Rolo,' Lance corrects himself as he stares at the sky.

He sends comfort to Blue, and a short snippet of the conversation he heard from the rest of the team. She needs reassurance, but Lance figures she knows that she's going to be saved. If Black could wake up with the help of the Lions, then all of them should sense their sisters. Lance will eat his slipper if he's wrong.

Lance can feel Blue purr in acknowledgement, and he still feels her agitation. It lessen somewhat and he wonders if she listened to her musings.

Sometimes Blue doesn't know when to butt out of his thoughts.

Lance sees an image of Pidge rolling her eyes.

"Someone's a sassy Lion," he mutters to himself before sighing.

"What was that Lance?" Hunk asks, and Lance turns his attention to him.

He forgot that the comm was on, then again Hunk was talking to himself a lot and he tuned him out.

"Nothing!" Lance chirps out, thinking momentarily before lying, "Just wondering what Lou would say. Something sassy."

"I'm going in!" Keith declares and Lance is puzzled.

"What's going on?" He asks.

"Rolo and Nyma flew into a asteroid belt and Keith's the only one agile enough to get to them." Pidge says, 'Weren't you paying attention?"

"I'm trying to make myself comfortable here."

"How exactly did Nyma get the best of you? I thought you would be all alert and like a panther." Pidge says and Lance can feel his face heat up.

"Later." He curtly replies, not wanting to hear this conversation.

Sometimes Pidge can be a little shit. Maybe it's because he annoyed her one too many times in the Garrison and on the Castle, but he is not saying anything over the comms. Shiro would hear this, and while he's old enough to know about flirting-he could care less about Keith-he is not going to have the man's respect toward him lower. He wants to be his prodige, his right hand man, and if Lance is being honest, his relationship with Shiro is still not that strong.

Sure they have the mind meld. Everyone trusts each other with their lives, but respect is a whole other ballpark in his opinion. Not to mention Allura and Coran can hear this. He does not want Allura to know that she is not the only woman he flirts with, she may be the lady in his life, but he wants to love everyone. Flirting with someone isn't exclusive, and people do it for fun all the time. He wouldn't mind saying that in front of everyone-sans Allura because she would think of him as the lowest of the low even though his intentions were purely fun-but the humiliation of thinking of being kissed and being in this situation.

Everyone will talk about this for weeks.

"Surrender you have nowhere to go!" Lance hears Keith yells out-he's broadcasting to the cargo ship-and he lets out a sigh of relief.

"Good going Keith!" Pidge says, and Lance assumes she's not broadcasting it.

"Yeah, I would have never caught up with them." Hunk said, "Yellow's built for taking down ships not chasing them."

"I'm going to follow them out of the belt. Be ready if they do anything," Keith says through the comms before broadcasting, "Rolo, Nyma get out of the asteroid belt. Failure to comply and I'll assume you'll attack."

Lance hears something faint. "I read you loud and clear."

'You hear that Blue? You're going to be free!' He makes sure to emphasis his joy toward his Lion.

Slight annoyance. Worry.

He's perplexed. Why would Blue be worried?

Blue doesn't bother to explain herself through images, and Lance sighs. Blue will open up to him when she's ready.

Mirth.

'So you do get a kick out of me being confused.' He thinks which he hears something akin to loud rumbling aka Blue's laughter.

Sometimes having a 10000 year old being-or over, he doesn't really know how old Blue is, she never gave him the exact year of her birthday-linked to your mind is not worth it. He has an inkling that she can see all, and occasionally chooses not to show her emotions or images.

'Sorry about you getting catnapped.' Lance apologizes as he tries to sit up while being cuffed to a tree. 'Sorry for being useless. I should be able to get out of this, if only I had my bayard in hand. Then again some of the tree could fall on me if I shot it.'

Acceptance.

'You're seriously not going to hold this over me? Weren't you angry that you were catnapped?' Lance would not accept something so readily unless whoever messed up was one of his best friends or close friends.

Unless the slight annoyance was Blue processing what happened.

Lance sees a short image of Shiro sighing and an image of Coran waving his hand to a question immediately replaces it.

'Fine you win.'

An image of himself with his chest puffed out exaggeratedly.

Lance rolls his eyes, sometimes Blue can be a bit ridiculous to her constant emotional comfort.

Lance clears his throat, "So is anyone going to come pick me up? I'm kind of chained to a tree."

"What do you mean kind of? You tied to a branch or what?" Keith asks.

"Well I'm tied to a tree."

"There we go." Keith says facetiously.

Grumbling Lance says,"What is with everyone giving me sass today?"

"What sass? I'm just clarifying something." Keith huffs.

'Were you annoyed about the whole cradling me in your arms and just holding me thing? Holy crow you are.' He grins, he is so going to hold this over him. "Right."

"So you don't want me to come pick you up?"

"No no no no, come get me. I'm on planet uh-" Lance tries to recall what Nyma said and Blue saves him.

She replays the image, leaving the sound, and he parrots what Nyma said.

"Planet T25J-04. Please pick me up, my knees are hurting," he finishes lamely.

"Since you asked so nicely." Keith said and Lance's eyebrow twitches.

'What's he talking about? I am always nice.' He wisely keeps his trap shut, he wants to be off this planet. "Thanks," is his clipped reply.

"Is Blue on the moon yet?" Lance asks, he might as well ask his team.

He could ask Blue, but it is a hit and miss with her. 'Blue you want to show me where you're at?'

Nothing.

'You mad?'

Nothing.

'Blue? You there? I guess you're tired.'

"Yeah. Rolo reversed the tractor beam. She's safely there. Allura is talking to Rolo and Nyma down below, not sure what." Keith said.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that everyone's communicator is off."

"Maybe. What you don't like talking to me?"

"I have the faint assumption that they're keeping quiet because they want to know about the tree."

"-wear to the heaven's Pidge if you do not unmute me." Hunk warns and Lance raises his eyebrow.

"You're unmuted now." Pidge says.

Lance doesn't realize the amount of power that Pidge has. She can mute people, she muted herself and Hunk from them. Lance knows she is a tech genius, but she is scary good.

"Good. Anyway as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by someone, I was right-" Hunk is muted again.

"Seriously Hunk?" Pidge says and she clicks her tongue.

"I thought he would have learned his lesson by now," Keith said. "I'm guessing Shiro took off his helmet."

"Yeah he did. He's talking to the three of them with Allura. Coran's in the back giving them the stink eye."

"So that's why it's been awfully quiet." Lance muses aloud.

"You got to tell us, how did you get tied up to the tree?" Pidge asks.

"Uh I'll tell the person who is going to save me. Who has to pinky swear to never tell anyone how this happened, even to their best friends." Lance quickly says.

"I bet it's an interesting story, especially with the scene I see."

Lance looks up to see the rapidly approaching red figure in the sky.

"Don't say anything!" Lance shrieks out.

There is no doubt in his mind that Pidge will hold this over him.

"Say what exactly? It's not like I can't hack into the Lions to see the feed." Pidge says and Lance gasps.

"Wait you can do that?!" Lance and Keith chorus out together.

So much power in one little person's hands. Pidge is truly a terrifying gremlin.

'Blue you better resist if Pidge hacks into you. It's not right to do that. You're your own person.'

Red lands in the clearing and lowers her head. After a few moments Keith walks out of Red. His eyebrow is quirked upward, and Lance thinks he sees the teen smirking.

'Is he laughing at my predicament? Not cool man. Then again I would be laughing on the ground if he, Pidge, or Hunk was like this.'

"You look comfortable," Keith states as his eyes travel up and down his form.

Lance is still on his knees. It's difficult to get back up because he has to raise his arms, he would have to squat awkwardly. His thighs can't handle it, and he knows he has to hit the training room.

"Can you help me?" He asks, raising his arms a little higher.

"Let me see if I can cut you free." Keith says and he takes out his bayard.

He crosses the distance and slashes at the laser like chain. The bayard cuts through the tree and the chain breaks. Lance falls onto the back of his knees, and he sighs in relief.

"Thanks dude. You're cool." Lance said, flashing the short teen a smile.

Keith returns it with a faint grin, and deactivates his bayard before it goes into the space pocket on his uniform. He offers his hand and Lance takes it.

"Thanks I guess?" Keith says like he never got a compliment before.

The two of them walk to Red and Lance feels uneasy about this. It feels wrong going into the supposed headspace of a being when he wasn't chosen. 'She isn't going to expel me right Blue?' Lance thinks as the two step into Red's mouth.

An image of himself shrugging.

He'll take that answer. Lance tentatively walks behind Keith as he goes into his chair.

"So," Lance starts as Keith touches the controls. "You want to know how I got cuffed to the tree."

"I thought you were literally tied up." Keith said as Red shifts from her crouching form to standing up.

"I wish I was." He said as he clenches on the back of the seat as Keith takes up, but the take off is smooth. "It would be less humiliating."

"What did you do?"

"I might have thought we were going...to kiss." He coughs, looking away from

"Lance." Keith drags out his name. He doesn't bother to look behind him as they are already leaving the planet.

"Well first it was fun. You know, show off that I'm a paladin. Now don't look at me like that, we did that with the Arusians too. Just, not how I did it." Lance said, attempting to defend himself.

"That was different. They saw Voltron and not the Lions."

"Potato tomato."

"That isn't how the saying goes."

"Well it rhymes and it's pleasing to the ear." Lance flips his hair dramatically.

"Of course," Keith says as he rolling his eyes.

"Anyway back to my story. I was reading the signs you know, and she said she had a gift. A universal signal for a kiss."

"You do realize that we are in space. Different cultures from the ones on Earth," Keith remarks as he directs them to one of the moons.

"I know that but she even leaned in before going for the cuffs." Lance says and he thinks, 'I should seriously learn how to be good at hand-to-hand in case something like this happens.'

He looks at Keith, who is concentrating on the moon up ahead of them. He was the top student at hand-to-hand combat in the Garrison, and while Lance got better, he knows that Keith got better if he was in the shack for a whole year because he felt Blue's energy.

Maybe he should ask for some pointers in training from him later.

"Sounds like a whole lot of bad luck." Keith says and to Lance it seems like he's saying, "Looks like she played you."

"I guess," Lance sighs before continuing, "just don't say anything to them. I don't want everyone to think I'm an idiot."

Keith opens his mouth, about to say something as they approach the moon that the Castle is on, before closing it. Finally he speaks, "It isn't that bad."

"Seriously? I thought she was a friend, sure I was showing off, and I thought she was actually interested in me. Then I find out that she used me for Blue. Blue! I lost her, and I couldn't do anything to get her back. I felt so helpless, you ever felt that before?" He rants, something heavy is in his chest.

He should have felt this in the moment that Nyma took Blue. Instead he thought about her, and why she did this. He should have been distraught that he would have lost one of the few things he felt a actual connection to. How many people could feel emotions from another? To see images from another's eyes? To communicate via thoughts to one another? He would have lost someone essential in his life, someone he didn't know he was missing until he found her.

Blue is someone that people on Earth would romanticise about their platonic soulmate. Maybe Keith was supposed to bring him to Blue, that's why they had similar reactions. Hope rises in his chest. It's nice that Fate managed to give him a guide to Blue.

"I have." Keith whispers out and he lands Red.

Immediately the hope in his chest vanishes. He is horrified about what he said.

Fuck. He forgot that Keith was waiting for Shiro for a year. Hoping that Shiro would appear from the Kerberos mission safe and sound.

"Think of it this way. They are both safe thanks to you." Lance tentatively says as Keith gets up from his seat.

"Yeah, I guess they are." His violet eyes meet his blue before walking ahead of him.

He stares at Keith's back a few moments, snapping out of hit when he feels vibration from the floor. Lance takes his que to run out of Red, passing Keith completely. He halts for a second and spots Blue. He immediately heads toward her, bolting past everyone.

Her particle barrier is still up, and as he draws near, it lowers. He runs to her, to her paw, and he hugs it. "I'm so sorry! That'll never happen ever again! I'll do everything in my power to never leave you like that!" He declares fervently as he clutches her paw.

Even if Blue forgives him, he'll never forgive himself. He needs to get stronger, otherwise incidents will happen again and again. He refuses to be the weak link in the team, to be useless in any situation, and captured with the need to be saved like some damsel.

"As touching as to see a Paladin reuniting with his Lion," Allura calls out and Lance turns to her, "there are other duties we need to fulfill. Everyone bring the Lions back into the Castle, we have a Balmera to save."

 **AN: Dealing with a panic attack you either try to get the person to talk to you about it-but it's difficult-or you distract them from their worries. It's a scary thing for the person having the attack and the one who is comforting them because they both feel helpless.**

 **It's scary seeing someone you love becoming trapped in their mind, and sometimes they're unresponsive or you can't make out the words they are trying to say. Lance happened to be there with Hunk, and he knows that he was going into one, and he tried his best to negated it.**

 **If anyone is interested, Coran did know that Hunk was in the middle of a breakdown. It's why he brought those two drinks.**

 **Nyma's part. Honestly she was a difficult character to write. She has an act, to be seductive/manipulative, and be friendly. No doubt in my mind that she can be friendly, but this girl fought for her planet, joined a resistance group, lost, met Rolo and the two of them are their own little team, and the two are trying to get by. That is why they took Blue, even if they are going to damn the universe if they succeeded. To be fair, Lance wasn't his usual energetic self. He did not tell them about Voltron being made up of Lions. She would have thought that Voltron was just being 5 Lions who do not combine to make a giant mech.**


	17. Happy Easter!

Lance fires one of Blue's ice breath at a few Galra fighter ships in Kernad's atmosphere in masses. He notices from the corner of his eye that Keith is chasing the scouting fighter ships that are trying to circle back to flack the Lions on the side.

A fighter near him is taken down, green vines consuming it, and he cheers.

"Thanks Pidge," He says as he fires at a jet ready to hit Hunk.

"Just pay attention next time," she retorts before shooting at another ship.

He doesn't see where Pidge is at, either on the screen or the scanner on the side displaying the enemies and allies. He rolls his eyes, 'Always using the camo unit. I would kill to get some. Not that you aren't good enough Blue, it would be cool to show up and then the Galra get a face full of ice!" He immediately rectifies, not wanting to make his best girl jealous.

Blue just hums, and he sees a brief flash of an eye roll before focusing on the battle at hand.

Shiro and Keith are above them, while he, Pidge, and Hunk are trying to keep a majority of the fighters in one area so they can take them out. Hunk is staying below, making sure no one escapes. He destroy them by either body slamming into them, or cutting them with Yellow's jaw blade.

Lance noticed something, the ships were semi contained. It reminds him of the old days of dealing with criminals.

"I got an idea. We could do Alpha Sigma." Lance says over the comms.

"What's Alpha Sigma?" Keith asks, "We never gone over that maneuver before."

"Lance stick to the plan, we're almost done." Shiro says.

"That's insane," Hunk immediately retorts as he headbutts a ship with Yellow. "It's a hit or miss man."

 **CLIFFHANGER!**

 **Hahaha, you thought you'd get the whole thing. The rest of this will be posted after hell week where it'll be as light hearted as I can possibly get it.**


End file.
